Talks with IMF on petroleum development levy tomorrow

Islamabad: Talks between tax policy diagnostic mission of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Energy Ministry to review the initiatives under the Petroleum Development Levy on petroleum products will be held tomorrow(Thursday).

An IMF technical Assistance Mission on tax policy is presently visiting Pakistan to hold discussion with key government stakeholders on tax policy admission and reforms is scheduled to meet with officials of Petroleum Division, official source told The Nation.

The visiting IMF team and petroleum division officials will meet on November 30, said the source.
During discussion, the IMF team decided to review the initiatives under the Petroleum Development Levy on petroleum products.

Beside Petroleum levy, the mission will also discuss other revenue measures related to petroleum division, the source said.

The consecutive governments of the PDM and Caretaker government have jacked up the petroleum Levy on Petrol and High Speed Diesel(HSD) to the maximum level. Currently the government is charging Rs60/litre on both Petrol and HSD.

The PDM government has set petroleum levy collection target during the ongoing fiscal year 2023-24 at Rs 869 billion. In the fiscal year. In the previous fiscal year 2022-23, Rs 580 billion were collected on account of petroleum levy.

During the first quarter of 2023-24 (July to September), the collection of petroleum levy has recorded an increase of 368% on an annual basis. The government has collected Rs 222 billion on account of Petroleum Levy in the first quarter of the current financial year 2023-24 (July to September). In the previous year 2022-23, the collection in the form of July-September levy was only Rs47.48 billion. 

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt