Hike in oil, gas prices: industrialists, traders for immediate reversal of decision

The exorbitant increase in prices of oil and CNG has come as a major shock for the trade and industry, as the traders and industrialists while condemning the hike have urged the government to reverse the decision without any delay. They said that the measure would negatively impact the inflation-stricken masses and the fragile economy. They termed the increase in POL prices as 'extortion' from the general public, which will also ruin the economy.
They said the jacked up oil prices would further paralyse the country's industries, which were already struggling for survival due to energy crisis, law and order situation, frequent strikes on one pretext or the other and other challenges confronting them. The traders and industrialists said that the government should cut the number of taxes on petroleum products, as fuel is the engine of growth. If the fuel is heavily taxed then the entire economy would suffer and the same is happening in Pakistan as the repeated increases in prices of oil, CNG, and power tariff had ruined the industrial and economic activities.
They said that no one would accept the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products and CNG and the government must not force the people to come out on the roads. Chairman, Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), Ehtishamuddin said that a comparison between the international oil prices and local prices was enough to make the point that the local oil prices had registered more than 50 percent increase in the last two years in comparison with the global rates.
Therefore, he said, that the government has no justification to make any increase in POL prices. The KATI chief said that 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. The increase in petroleum products' 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 added.
He said that the cost of thermal generation by private sector to go up. "Not only the transportation cost of goods would multiply but fares of public transport would also increase manifold," he added. President, All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Mian Zahid Hussain, said that the increase would hit all sectors of the economy that would jack up the inflation and resultant hike in mark-up rates and disturb the entire economic cycle.
He said that to keep the economic cycle well on track, the government would have to shelve the decision to increase oil prices. He said that instead of passing on any surge in international market to masses, the government should cut the number of taxes on petroleum products as the fuel is the engine of growth. He said that only because of high cost of doing business in Pakistan, a large number of industrial units had already shifted their operations to other countries and the recent decision would force more industrialists to follow the suit.
Patron In-Chief Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI), S M Muneer, Vice Chairmen, Hasham A Razzak and Tariq Malik while rejecting the massive increase in petroleum products' prices and slapping surcharge on CNG said that the government's decision was meant to further squeeze the poor people of Pakistan, besides crippling the trade and industry. They said that petroleum products' prices were already at the highest level and any further increase would prove the last straw that breaks the camel's back.