Prices of petroleum products fixed as per int’l practice: Asad Umar

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance, Asad Umar has said the sale prices of petroleum products were fixed in paisas along with rupee as per standard international practice.

In a written reply to the question of Senator Sitara Ayaz in the Upper House, the minister said the international oil prices were published and charged in respective currency along with fractions (cents/pennies) while exchange rate was also published in rupee with paisas.

He stated that the main aim of discontinuing the use of decimal coins was to facilitate the settlement of transactions in the economy.

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He added that coins carrying metallic contents become economically unfeasible if the intrinsic value of coins exceeded the face value of the coin. Various actual cost components included in oil prices are in rupee with paisas, therefore, sale prices of petroleum products are fixed in paisas along with rupee, which is also a standard international practice.”

The oil marketing companies and pump dealers margins, he said, were computed on consumer price index (CPI) that was published by Bureau of Statistics in fraction while the last component of the oil price was sales tax, which was notified by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in term of percentage, due to which the ultimate ex-depot sale price was determined in rupee with paisas.