The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government is fully aware of the negative impact of load shedding on trade and industry and the Planning Commission is developing short, medium and long-term plans to overcome the energy crisis.
Federal Minister for Planning and Developing Ahsan Iqbal said this while exchanging views with a delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry that called on him on Saturday.
The minister said that overcoming the energy crisis is the top most priority of the government and it would use all options to minimize the effects of energy shortage on business and economy. He said that an amount of Rs 225 billion has been allocated to energy sector in the budget and its positive impact would start emerging in coming months.
Ahsan Iqbal said the PML-N government would make business-friendly policies so that the private sector could assume a bigger role in the economic development of the country. He assured that all problems of trade and industry including power shortage would be resolved as the government is giving key focus to investment promotion, industrialisation, agricultural reforms and infrastructure building.
Speaking at the occasion, Zafar Bakhtawari, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry congratulated Ahsan Iqbal on taking charge as federal minister for Planning & Development and hoped that under his guidance the Planning Commission would come up with innovative plans to facilitate the growth of commercial and industrial activities. He appreciated the government’s decision to allocate Rs 500 billion in the budget to clear circular debt as it would bring positive change in energy scenario.
He said the basic reason of current power crisis is the policy failure of governments as no government bothered to foresee the rising energy needs of the country and plan accordingly to meet such needs. He stressed for harnessing cheap energy sources including hydro and coal as over 50 percent reliance on furnace oil for power generation is the major cause of very high production cost in Pakistan.
The ICCI president showed concern on allowing FBR access to bank accounts of customers for improving tax collection as it would create harassment in business community and spark capital flight causing damaging effect on the economy. He also expressed reservations on 0.5 percent income support levy on net movable assets and increasing turnover tax from 0.5 percent to 1 percent in the Budget 2013-14 and called for withdrawal of these proposals to save business community for more difficulties.
