Petroleum dealers will meet Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Malik on Monday (today) for an agreement on increasing their profit margin.

If their demands are not met, the dealers have threatened to close petrol stations across the country.

PPDA (Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association) officials and Mr Malik reached an agreement to increase the dealers’ profit margin on Friday, rescheduling the strike for two days.

On Sunday, a PPDA member told Dawn that their delegation was scheduled to meet the minister at 4pm.

According to the PPDA official, petrol stations will remain open until the meeting is over and any further action will be decided afterward.

Dealers have asked the government to double their profit margin to 5 percent from the current 2.4 percent.

Under the Kibor rate, the consumer price index had increased to 38pc, while electricity and other utility rates had also gone up, according to PPDA Chairman Abdul Sami Khan.

Due to these hikes, the dealer’s commission on petrol has completely disappeared.

Dealer margins were set at 5 percent in 1999, but the government set them at Rs6 per litre, which is 2.4 percent, which is not acceptable to the dealers.