Business community urges govt to review PDL, daily fuel pricing

Business groups, as reported by Dawn, want the government to revisit the levies on petroleum products and its policy of setting fuel prices daily. Businessmen say the daily revisions make it hard to estimate production costs and set product prices, which is disrupting their planning.

Ikram Rajput, president of KATI, said petrol and diesel rose by about Rs22 and Rs14 over three days, adding to pressure on households already dealing with rising prices. Official figures cited in the report put taxes, duties and levies at roughly 37 per cent of the petrol price and 31 per cent of diesel. He also argued that falls in global rates should reach buyers as quickly as increases do.

SITE Association president Abdul Rehman Fudda wants a 15-day pricing cycle in place of daily revisions, which he says would let industrialists assess costs and sign commercial deals. FPCCI president Atif Ikram Sheikh warned that repeated oil shocks and heavy domestic levies were eroding export competitiveness, widening the trade deficit and leaving small and medium-sized firms under growing strain.