Zahid Maqbool, President, all Executive Members and former Presidents of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry in a specially called meeting strongly condemned the government decision of jacking up power tariff by 13.5 percent from January 2010 and demanded for immediate withdrawal of this decision. They termed it a highly anti-business and anti-people decision and a cruel act entirely against the national interest, especially at a time when the country is experiencing worst power crisis of history. They said this increase will have multiple negative impacts on the overall economy.  

Zahid Maqbool said a few days earlier, government had announced a 7 per cent increase in the prices of POL & 18 per cent in natural gas products and now to appease the IMF bosses, it has given an unprecedented hike in power tariff along with withdrawing subsidies on electricity which will make electricity costlier by almost 20 per cent till the end of current fiscal year. He said that all these measures will produce highly devastating results for business, economy and the general public.

The businessmen said that the industrial sector is already facing negative growth and hefty hike in power tariff will severely hit it due to increase in cost of production and doing business.  They said exports are facing tough competition in international markets on account of high production cost due to which textile exports have decreased by 4.2 per cent during first quarter of current fiscal year and this increase will make our products further less competitive. It will also cause closure of more industries as industrial sector will not be able to absorb this shock leading to more unemployment & poverty in the country. It will also unleash a new wave of inflation in the country.

Zahid Maqbool said that hike in power tariff will also hit hard the agriculture sector, which is the growth engine of the national economy. It will increase cost of diesel that is used in tube wells, tractors, harvesters and thrashers. Cost of transportation and generation of electricity through thermal power stations that use oil and gas will also go up. Thus viewed in a broader perspective, hike in POL, gas & electricity prices will ultimately lead to great slump in business activities causing less tax revenue for the government. It will further discourage the investment in the country as cost of doing business is a key consideration for an investor. He said high production cost will promote culture of imports and will discourage industrialization in the country, which will, in the long term, prove harmful for the country.

He said that instead of taking anti-economy measures in the garb of reducing fiscal deficit, government should seek indigenous and more workable solutions to improve fiscal deficit. He said government should minimize non-development public expenditure by adopting austerity measures at all tiers of governance, reduce the size of federal and provincial governments and prioritize development projects. He said foreign trips by VIPs and government officials should be reduced tremendously in order to save public expenditure and precious foreign exchange.

He said government should facilitate exports as much as possible to meet export target for current fiscal year. It will generate economic activity, productivity and revenue. He said government should also take concrete measures to improve security situation in the country to avoid heavy expenditures on security front.