Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry here Wednesday criticised Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) decision to revise the prices of petroleum products on weekly basis and said that it would not only double the inflation figures but also create operational difficulties for the manufacturers. The LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh urged the government to review the ECC decision in the larger interests of the economy that is facing multiple challenges. The ECC must know that profit margin in the global marketplace ranges between 0.5 percent to 0.25 percent and if the prices of petroleum products keep on fluctuating in this highly competitive world, the Pakistani merchandise would not be able to maintain their due place, he said, asserting, the decision would also affect the country’s manufacturing sector as the manufacturers would not be able to calculate exact price of their goods. Irfan Sheikh said the electricity shortage is a big challenge at the moment and all the government organs should work in this direction, as the electricity outages have not only curtailed the GDP growth but also jacked up the graph of unemployment rate. The LCCI President also urged the Economic Coordination Committee to ponder on producing biodiesel in a fashion India, Philippine and Brazil are doing. So much so India is running a train between Delhi and Mumbai on biodiesel. “One hector piece of land can produce 540-680 litres of biodiesel through plants known as Jetropha that need watering only once a year,” he maintained. If a decision to plant Jetropha is taken by the government at mass level in Cholistan Desert, it would not only be saving much needed revenue but would also be providing employment opportunities to the residents of that area.
