Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has demanded of the government to provide 50 percent representation to the private sector by reorganising the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra). LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, while criticising Ogra for its move to further increase oil prices, said that the Authority should protect the stakeholders' interest and urged the government to cut the number of taxes on petroleum products as the fuel was considered the engine of growth.
"If the fuel would be heavily taxed the entire economy is bounded to suffer and the same has happened in Pakistan as the repeated increases in the POL prices had ruined the industrial and economic activities in the country." He said the entire industrial sector was already facing multiple internal and external challenges and any new increase in POL prices would further aggravate the economic situation.
Pakistan agriculture sector is engine of growth and the rising oil prices would increase the input cost of agriculture production as high speed diesel is being used in tractors, tube-wells, harvesters, thrashers and other agriculture machinery. He said the cost of thermal generation by private sector to go up. The LCCI President said that not only the transportation cost of goods would be multiplied but fares of public transport would also be increased manifold.
He said that government was producing huge amount of electricity through thermal means and after increase in petroleum prices, prices of electricity would touch new heights. Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said the LCCI had for the last many months been calling on the concerned government circles to take measures for the promotion of alternate fuels, as trade deficit was fast widening due to heavy imports under the head of petroleum products.
He was of the view that timeline for the increase in the prices of petroleum products was also raising questions because at a time when the whole industry was suffering due to energy crisis and high cost of doing business, the raise in POL prices was bound to give a further blow to the industry.
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