Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President, Maqsood Ismail has said that the PML-N-led government as per its claim of being business and investment-friendly regime should reduce the petroleum products (POL) prices honestly, as the people of Pakistan deserved it.
"The masses, in general, and trade and industry, in particular, need some relief at this juncture when everyone remained under the heavy burden of unaffordable prices of utilities and imposition of various additional taxes and levies," Ismail said. He lamented the increase in general sales tax (GST) on fuel, which he declared unjustified.
He maintained industries were closing down in the country due to unbearable cost of doing business and energy crisis. He said that actual price cut should be Rs 40 per litre as per the rate of $31 per barrel in the international market. Former President, Yakoob Karim said that international oil price has constantly been falling for the last few years and the price of oil per barrel went down below $31, but the Pakistani government remained reluctant to provide price relief to the consumers with the same ratio.
It was a sheer injustice with the people of the country that they were not given any price differential in any utility, he said, adding that as per the government's own price mechanism, there should be immediate reduction in prices of not only POL products but electricity, transport fares, including trains and airlines, but the authorities are reluctant to bring them down.
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