The petroleum levy on diesel is still lower today than it was before the Gulf crisis.

This was stated by Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad in a post on X today.

He said the levy was temporarily reduced to shield consumers from the sharp increase in international diesel prices in recent months, ensuring that the entire burden was not passed on to transporters, farmers, and other diesel users.

He said the revenue estimates for the current year, duly approved by the National Assembly, are based on an average petroleum levy rate of eighty rupees per litre on both diesel and petrol.

He said meeting these revenue targets is essential to finance budgeted expenditures and maintain fiscal stability.

He added that as international oil prices ease, it is both prudent and fiscally responsible to gradually restore the levy toward its budgeted level rather than continue an emergency reduction indefinitely.

Khurram Schehzad said a revenue shortfall would widen the fiscal deficit, ultimately imposing greater costs on the economy and the public.

He said the recent adjustments should therefore be viewed as a phased normalization of a temporarily reduced levy rather than as an arbitrary or unexpected tax increase.