Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Thursday demanded total exemption from power and gas load shedding to help strengthen the bleak national economy besides saving the industrial and agricultural sectors from irreparable loss. President FPCCI, Senator Haji Ghulam Ali, VP SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik and LCCI President Shahzad Ali Malik in a joint statement demanded that government, in the larger national interest, ought to accord top priority to industrial and agricultural sectors.
They said that uninterrupted power and gas supply throughout the year would aid in economic growth and meeting export targets. They said that countries across the globe, gave priority to the industrial and agricultural sector rather than domestic consumers in the face of gas and power shortage.
They said a strong economy is vital for the survival of all countries hence it would be in the greater national interest for the government to reshape its policy on the transmission and distribution of power. This would provide the industry with an opportunity to flourish and save millions of jobs. Talking about an increase in prices, Iftikhar Ali Malik said that a hike in gas, power and petroleum prices would pressurise the manufacturers, who were already struggling to cope with the power shortage. He said that a hike in the prices of these products would lead to higher costs of production.
All this would hamper industrial production in the country and lead to a cut in export orders, he said. The high power, gas and petroleum tariffs he said has led to a liquidity crunch for importers of industrial raw materials, he added. High mark up rates by banks should also be reduced to single digit for providing solace to the industry. “All these factors are increasing the cost of doing business”, he added.
