Move to Pakistan.
@niaz
Sir how much subsidy is still there on the petroleum? I believe this is the time to remove all subsidy.
Honourable Donatello,
Fundamental strength & weakness of the market is dictated by the international crude prices. Alas no one has a crystal ball to accurately forecast future price, I can only quote from an analytical market report that I subscribe.
“Technicals are in control at this point, and with Brent back under $60 and WTI under $55 it seems almost a foregone conclusion that WTI is going to test $50 tomorrow, or very early next week. The bears are going to jump in on any sign of market weakness to see where buyers are prepared to stand their ground.”
I also get daily international spot prices. Arab Gulf spot prices as of Friday 18th December close of business were:
Gasoline -95 RON $66.37 per bbl., Jet/Kerosene $73.20 per bbl., Gas oil (0.5% S) $71.83 per bbl. and HSFO 180 CST (Furnace oil) $307.60 per metric ton.
Let us be conservative and assume freight from Arab Gulf ports to Karachi including insurance & transportation loss at $1.50 per bbl. Since one barrel has about 159 litres (158.987 to be exact). Friday’s delivered price to Karachi without any custom duties & taxes come to:
95 Ron gasoline about 43 cents per litre, kerosene 47 cents per litre and gas oil/diesel at 46 cents per litre.
One must add about 10 cents per litre storage & marketing costs to this number. In other words if there were no gov’t duties & taxes petrol in Karachi should be selling at Rs 53 per litre, kerosene at Rs 57 per litre & diesel at Rs 56 per litre. However because of uniform prices (same in Karachi as in Peshawar) one must also add freight equalization to these numbers to arrive at realistic ex-duty selling price.
However, before we come to any conclusion, we must keep in mind that prices fluctuate every day and actual FOB ( Free on board) price applied to a shipment is normally based upon average of 5 days around Bill of Lading date. Some sales contracts are also priced on average of the month.
I don’t know current prices of petroleum products in Pakistan but I would guess that falling prices have automatically eliminated need for any subsidy.
Trust the above clarifies the situation to your satisfaction.