Reports also suggest that FBR received lower sales tax on petroleum due to slow demand
Federal Minister for Petroleum Omar Ayub in a press conference said that the current petroleum crisis in the country will be controlled within three days and actions will be taken against the hoarders. He was at the Peshawar High Court for a case filed by a citizen regarding the wheat and petrol issues in the country.
Omar Ayub said that a mafia is responsible for the shortage of the fuel, while adding that the demand for the petroleum products has surged by 30%. He also suggested that this mafia does not want people to benefit from the current lower fuel prices. “This is the first time that action is being taken against this mafia,” the federal minister claimed.
PSO also issued a statement on the matter saying that the petroleum marketing company have not maintained the minimum 21 days stock under the licensing agreement. The state oil company said that there is severe pressure on its stocks due to non-availability of petrol from some of the other companies.
The government is also facing issues at the petroleum tax collection front. The lockdowns and lesser economic activity due to the novel coronavirus have led to lower consumption of petroleum products in the last few months. As per sources, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has lost an estimated 30 billion rupees in sales tax.
The sources further claimed that the sales tax collection from petroleum products lowered by 23% to 98 billion rupees between March and June, dropping from 128 billion rupees in the year ago period. That compared with Rs128 billion collected during the corresponding four months a year earlier.