Muhammad Shakeel Munir, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that the government has made an increase of Rs.4.74 per unit in the tariff of electricity consumed in October as fuel cost adjustment, which is a harsh decision as it would put additional financial burden of Rs.60 billion on power consumers, further escalate the cost of production and push up inflation leading to harmful consequences on the economy.
said that Pakistan needed to boost exports in order to get rid of foreign debt burden and attain sustainable economic growth, however, the repeated hikes in power tariffs, POL products and increase in policy interest rate have contributed to make significant increase in the cost of doing business due to which it is becoming difficult for the business community to compete in the international market for exports. He said that electricity is a major input for many industries and making addition of Rs.4.74 per unit in the electricity bills for collection in December would further increase production cost.
Muhammad Shakeel Munir urged that the government should reduce its dependence on thermal power and focus on renewable energy sources including hydro, solar and wind to produce cheap energy that would bring down production cost, reduce inflation and make our exports more competitive in the international markets.
Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh Senior Vice President and Muhammad Faheem Khan Vice President ICCI said that the government was assuring to promote the ease of doing business to facilitate the growth of private sector, however, its measures like repeated hike in electricity & gas tariffs and oil prices are creating more difficulties for SMEs and the industrial sector. They stressed that the government should reconsider its approach and take measures to reduce the cost of doing business that would enable the business activities and exports to flourish and economy would achieve stable growth.