Mian Shaukat Masud, president, Shabab Khalid and Muhammad Ishtiaq Qureshi, vice presidents and other office bearers of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) have strongly protested against average hike of 7.5 percent in gas tariff and termed it an anti business decision which will further cripple the already struggling trade and industry, particularly the textile sector.
The government has distributed the approved gas tariff increase among the different consumers that range between 3-17 percent while it has passed on 10 percent hike in gas tariff rates for compressed natural gas (CNG) stations. They said they are simply astonished at this very startling step, particularly when the oil prices in international market are on the decline and there was no need to go for such negative measures.
They feared that industry will now be facing more serious threat of closures, layoff and sizeable production cut because of steep rise in their cost of doing business as well as substantial reduction in their sales.
ICCI office bearers said, at a time when the industry is not doing good and is in doldrums, exports going down, unemployment figures at an all time high, cost of doing business and cost of manufacturing at its peak, the step to increase the tariff of gas, which is an indigenous raw material, will prove very detrimental for the industry and will put highly negative impact on business activities in the country.
They said that government had already increased electricity by 18 percent in September 2008 which had made our products uncompetitive in international markets while this hike will definitely increase the price of commodities in the local market and would put us in a position where it would be impossible to compete in the world market, with special reference to textile.
They were of the view that this sector is the mainstay of our exports, largest engine of employment generation, largest foreign exchange earner and government should provide maximum incentives to it to play more effective role in strengthening the economy instead of making conditions more difficult for it by raising tariffs.
Mian Shaukat Masud said that business community has always been requesting government to bring down cost of doing business in the country by reducing electricity and gas tariffs and high interest rates. But contrary to our appeals, government has further raised the production cost by spiking gas tariff. He said businessmen are playing an important role in the national economy and being a key stakeholder, government should always take them on board by involving them in consultation before taking such decisions.-PR
Comments
Comments are closed.