The government increased natural gas tariff by four to 67 per cent for different categories which will be effective from this month. The increase in gas rates was one of the key requirements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is expected to take up Pakistan’s case for disbursement of $506 million tranche later this month. A senior government official told Dawn that the increase in tax rates on petroleum products would yield an additional revenue of Rs10-12bn for the government. These are highest-ever tax rates on petroleum products. The increase was passed on to consumers, indirectly. But the real reason behind the step, which was not taken since 2013 for one reason or another, including the notorious dharna in the federal capital, was to pave the way for the gas utilities to recover their losses.We don’t know if the SNGPL and the SSGC are loss-making entities or are able to churn profits. Surprising, but true — since the companies have been unable to publish financial accounts, which have been missing since 2012-13. The two companies are listed and have seen their share prices go up by more than 100 per cent since the start of 2012, albeit less than the corresponding increase in the benchmark. Nevertheless, the basis on which shareholders are trading the scrip is based on numbers given by the organisations and the government. These numbers are not audited and, therefore, not up for scrutiny. In the latest development, the government says the two organisations will continue to face a revenue shortfall. Even though the gas tariff hike would earn them an additional Rs77 billion, the two entities are still likely to face a shortfall of around Rs29 billion. The reason they give is gas theft and distribution losses, mostly in sensitive areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. This will form the basis for another gas rates hike in the coming months. Why should we buy the argument, given there is an ongoing investigation against the SSGC over none other than the misuse of funds? How come the two entities that have failed to publish their accounts are seeing millions of shares being traded each day? Are the regulators ignoring this?
pk.shafaqna.com
