KARACHI: In an attempt to convince petroleum dealers to call off a strike they had threatened last week, the government has agreed to increase its profit margin on petroleum products by Rs 1.64 per liter after hours-long negotiations.
Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) Chairman Abdul Sami Khan announced the agreement in this regard.
The government had proposed to increase dealers’ margin by Rs 1.64 per litre.
Dealers – who had initially demanded an increase of Rs 5 per liter – opposed the hike, terming it “inadequate” given the rising cost of their business.
However, later he accepted the offer.
The increase in dealers’ margin will be applied to the consumer price in four phases.
It will be increased by Rs 0.41 per liter every fortnight, and dealers will get a full increase of Rs 1.6 per liter in two months, taking the dealers’ margin from the current Rs 6 per liter to Rs 7.6 per liter after two months.
Last week, PPDA, the representative of petrol pump owners, announced the shutdown of fuel pumps across the country from July 22, demanding an increase in profit margins amid the inflationary crisis.
In a statement, the association said its concerns were conveyed to Minister of State for Petroleum Mossadegh Malik but to no avail.
The official statement said interest rates and inflation have affected the business of operators and called for an increase in dealership margins.
It said that sales have fallen by 30 percent due to the smuggling of Iranian fuel into the country.
However, the next day, PPDA postponed its strike for two days after association members held talks with the Petroleum Minister, who arrived in Karachi on Friday to convince PPDA to call off the nationwide strike.
