• Vehicle import rules tightened; only transfer of residence, gift schemes retained, personal baggage scheme discontinued
• Chloroform imports restricted to Drap-certified companies due to health, environmental risks

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet has approved an additional Rs2.56 per litre margin for petrol and diesel to boost the profitability of oil marketing companies (OMCs) and their dealers.

A meeting of the ECC, presided over by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, also tightened rules for second-hand vehicle imports and restricted the import of chloroform solely to drug companies certified by the regulator.

A senior government official told Dawn that the ECC approved a Rs1.22 per litre increase in profit margins for OMCs and Rs1.34 per litre for petroleum dealers, to be implemented in two equal instalments.

The first increase — 61 paise per litre for OMCs and 67 paise per litre for dealers — will take effect with the upcoming fortnightly price revision. This will immediately raise the OMCs’ margin to Rs8.48 per litre and that of dealers to Rs9.31 per litre.

The second equivalent increase will come into force on June 1, 2026, subject to digitalisation of sales and stock networks and their live connectivity with government bodies, including the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, Federal Board of Revenue and Petroleum Division.

After this increase, OMCs will charge Rs9.10 per litre while dealers will receive about Rs9.98 per litre, compared to the current Rs7.87 and Rs8.64, respectively.

An official statement said the ECC had approved revising margins for OMCs and petroleum dealers on petrol and high-speed diesel in line with the National CPI for 2023-24 and 2024-25, with increases capped between 5pc and 10pc.

It added that half of the margin increase would be paid immediately while the remaining half would depend on progress in digitalisation, with the Petroleum Division to report back by June 1, 2026.

Vehicle import procedure

The ECC also approved amendments to the vehicle import procedure, retaining only the Transfer of Residence and Gift Schemes, as proposed by the commerce ministry in consultation with other ministries. The Personal Baggage Scheme has now been discontinued.

Under the revised framework, commercial-import safety and environmental standards will apply to these schemes, the allowed import period will be extended from two to three years, and imported vehicles will remain non-transferable for one year.

The changes follow widespread misuse of the Personal Baggage, Transfer of Residence and Gift Schemes under the Import Policy Order (IPO) 2022 — originally intended for genuine overseas Pakistanis — and pressure from local assemblers facing quality competition and foreign exchange concerns.

The decision includes a one-year non-transferability condition for imported vehicles, though enforcement of such rules has historically been weak.

It also increased the minimum stay abroad requirement to three years with at least 850 cumulative days, and retains the condition that vehicles under the Transfer of Residence Scheme must be exported from the same country where the sender resides.

The ECC also approved restrictions on chloroform imports due to its toxic and carcinogenic nature, deciding that Trichloromethane (chloroform) will only be imported by pharmaceutical companies with a no-objection certificate from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap).

The move follows demands from the Pakistan Footwear Manufacturers Association (PFMA) and the Pakistan Chemical Manufacturers Association (PCMA) for a complete ban, arguing that chloroform was being used as an adhesive in the footwear industry and posed serious health and environmental risks.

The ministries of industries and production, climate change, national health services regulations and coordination and FBR supported a complete ban, but Drap argued that chloroform was essential as a laboratory reagent and for quality control testing in pharmaceutical industries.

The ECC also rejected a concessionary gas/RLNG tariff claim by M/s Ghani Glass, saying that such subsidies were no longer permissible and that broader export-support initiatives were already underway.

The meeting approved a Rs1.28bn supplementary grant for the Pakistan Digital Authority to support digital transformation and technological innovation across government departments, and another Rs5bn supplementary grant for the Ministry of Housing and Works.

It also approved, in principle, the release of budgetary allocations for PIA Holding Company Ltd to meet pension and medical expenses of PIACL employees.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2025