Panaji, Dec 23 (IANS): With assembly polls due early next year, the BJP-led coalition government in Goa on Friday slashed VAT on petrol from 15 to 9 per cent to bring the price of the fuel to Rs 60 per litre.

This is the third time in the last four and a half years that the state government has slashed value added tax on petrol in Goa to bring it to or under Rs 60 per litre.

Petrol prices in Goa had fallen drastically in 2012 after BJP-led government nearly abolished 22 per cent VAT on petrol price as part of a poll promise made in the party's election manifesto to bring down petrol prices to do away with VAT on petrol. 

However, over the last two years, the government increased the VAT to the pre-2012 levels, with Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar claiming the 2012 decision to bring down VAT on petrol to 0.1 per cent was only to bring down prices at a time when fuel prices were at an all-time high.

Parsekar had said the price of petrol in Goa would be kept at around Rs 60 per litre by reducing and increasing VAT as required.