ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has called upon the government to pass full benefit of falling international oil prices on consumers by making proportionate cut in domestic prices of POL products that will help in boosting business activities and providing relief to the common man.
Atif Ikram Sheikh president, Sheikh Pervez Ahmed senior vice president and Sheikh Abdul Waheed vice president, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that crude oil price in international market has come down to 12 years low level of below $30/barrel and government should make proportionate cut in domestic prices of POL products to pass on benefit of these falling oil prices to the people.
They said whenever oil price in international market went up, no time was wasted to pass on its burden to the common man. However, at a time when there was a golden opportunity for the government to provide relief, people were still waiting for cut in domestic POL prices.
They said instead of making falling international oil prices a source of revenue for itself, government should transfer this benefit to the general public that will mitigate miseries of common man, bring down production cost, reduce inflation and lead to big boost in business and economic activities in the country.
They said government has imposed heavy taxes on POL products as GST on these products was raised ranging from over 25 percent to 45 percent. They said government was collecting about 45 percent of total sales tax from POL products, but this approach caused exorbitant hike in energy and production cost putting highly negative impact on the growth of industrial activities and exports.
They said apart from heavy GST, people were also paying petroleum levy from Rs.6 to Rs.14 per liter and all such measures have deprived our nation of historic fall in international oil prices. They demanded that government should reduce GST and other taxes on POL products and reduce domestic oil prices appreciably that would lead to creation of conducive environment for business and investment activities.
