President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) Mian Zahid Hussain has urged the government to implement the export package, pay all the refunds and reduce the prices of electricity and gas so that Pakistan products could be able to compete with competing nations. He said that exports have shown growth of 7% in the last month which is good but not sufficient. He was of the view that shortcut of the devaluation of currency should not be used because it is not a sustainable solution, therefore, instead of it, cost of doing business for the export sector should be reduced.
He said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's departure on leave increased challenges for the Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. "Second LNG terminal has become operational reducing energy scarcity, substantially, therefore, the Prime Minister should give full attention to the state of the economy," he stressed.
Mian Zahid cited that price of natural gas in Bangladesh is $3 per mmbtu but it is $7.6 per mmbtu in Pakistan while the LNG costs almost $11 per mmbtu in Pakistan which is almost four times costly than the gas price enforced in Bangladesh. He said the price of natural gas in Vietnam is $4.2 per mmbtu while it is $4.5 in India which is a great disadvantage for the Pakistani exporters. He said the price of electricity is almost double in Pakistan as compared to the regional countries, which is also a hurdle in production and exports. PBIF president said that government should consider uniform gas prices, stop penalising masses for the theft of energy and abolish GIDC to help producers and exporters.
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