What lawmakers have been asked to pass
Islamabad has placed a draft amendment before the National Assembly that would harden how fuel businesses settle the petroleum levy and the climate support levy. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhary introduced the Petroleum Products (Petroleum Levy and Climate Support Levy) (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which lawmakers then sent to the standing committee that covers the subject. The timing sits just ahead of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board session on Pakistan’s lending arrangement.
How collection rules would tighten
Under the draft, holding an Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) fuel licence would depend on clearing both levies. Refineries would have to park the money with the authorities before product moves out of the plant. Businesses that fall behind would owe a daily late charge set at one-and-a-half times the six-month Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (KIBOR) or twelve percent a year—whichever figure is larger—until the arrears are cleared.
OGRA could freeze or revoke a defaulter’s licence. Incomplete payment could also mean a prison term lasting as long as three years, a monetary penalty matching what remains unpaid, or both penalties together. Directors and partners at a firm in default could share that exposure unless they show the shortfall happened without their knowledge or approval. Firms would file levy returns every month and submit a yearly audited certificate, paying for that audit themselves.
Pump prices and the budget target
The draft leaves the size of each levy untouched, so it neither lifts nor cuts petrol and diesel prices at the forecourt. The measures target licensed fuel businesses rather than drivers. Officials want the amounts already built into pump prices to reach the federal treasury in full. For fiscal year 2026–27, the government plans to gather Rs1.6 trillion through the petroleum levy. Stronger enforcement forms part of pledges tied to the IMF programme, after staff recently struck an agreement that still needs the Fund’s Executive Board to sign off.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Sarkar ne National Assembly mein ek bill pesh kiya hai jo petrol levy na dene wali fuel companies par sakhti karta hai. Company agar levy na bhare to jail, jurmana, ya licence band hone ka khatra ho sakta hai. Petrol aur diesel ke rate is bill se nahi badlenge—yeh qanoon companies ke liye hai, sawari chalane walon ke liye nahi. Matlab yeh hai ke pump par jo levy lagti hai, woh asal mein sarkari khazane tak pahunche.
