Trade and Industry was already facing difficulties in promoting business activities & enhancing exports due to high cost of doing business and 6 percent further hike in electricity tariff will put a dampening impact on their efforts to improve the economy. This was said by Zahid Maqbool in his maiden address to the businessmen on assuming the charge as new President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) here today.

He said the electricity was one of the basic raw materials for the industry and hike in its price would not only further increase cost of doing business, but would also make Pakistani merchandise non-competitive in the global market. He called upon the government to immediately reverse this decision in the larger national interest.

He said already exports of Pakistan had shown a decline of 13.8% to $2.969 billion during the first two months (July-August) of the current financial year and this hike will further affect the competitiveness of our exports. He said if such anti-business measures were not stopped forthwith, government’s plan to achieve US$ 25-billion exports target of textiles in next five years would prove just a dream.

Zahid Maqbool said this increase will add more miseries to already inflation-hit common man. He said instead of removing inefficiency and incompetence of discos, reducing high administrative cost & line losses, government was taking measures which were proving anti-business and anti-people.

He lamented that instead of formulating long-term policies to overcome energy crisis, government was resorting to short-term measures like purchasing rental power plants, which would not be of much benefit to trade and industry as well as for general public due to their prohibitive cost.

He stressed upon the government to make conducive policies for inviting investment in alternative energy sources projects like hydel, wind, coal and solar energy sources etc. which were in plenty in Pakistan and which would provide cheap energy to business entities and the general public.