LAHORE: Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI),apex body of chambers in the country,Wednesday demanded total exemption from power and gas loadshedding for industry and agriculture to prevent irreparable losses to these vital sectors of the national economy.
President FPCCI, Senator Haji Ghulam Ali,VP SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik and former LCCI President Shahzad Ali Malik in a joint statement demanded that government,in the larger national interest,ought to accord top priority to industrial and agricultural sectors.
They maintained that hundred percent power/gas supply throughout the year would help meet economic growth and export targets, besides achieving bumper crops.
The experts said that world over, in the developed countries,in case of shortage of gas and power, greater importance was given to industrial and agricultural sectors than the domestic consumers.
They said that survival of countries is on sound economy, therefore, in the greater national interest the government should reshape its policy of load shedding to provide a chance to industry to flourish and save millions of daily wagers from unemployment.
About sharp increase in prices,Iftikhar Ali Malik said that hike in gas, power and petroleum products would disturb the manufacturers already hard hit by gas, power load shedding and the weak rupee against dollar. He said that hike will lead to higher cost of production.
All this would hamper the industrial production in the country and lead to cuts in export orders,he said.
He said that the industry was already facing energy crisis and the increase in prices would squeeze liquidity.
High power, gas and petroleum tariffs created liquidity crunch for importers of industrial raw materials,he added.
Iftikhar Malik said that keeping in view the business scenario world over,high rate of mark up by banks should also be reduced to single digit to provide relief to industry.
Former LCCI Chief Shahzad Ali Malik said that dearth of gas/power and higher prices would burden the industrial sector which was already facing high mark up rate and energy crisis. "All these factors are increasing the cost of doing business", he regretted.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.