President Federation of Pakistan Commerce and Industry, Zubair Tufail has demanded that price of gas should be brought down significantly while the power tariff for the exports sector should be immediately slashed by Rs 3 per unit so that export sector can be revived as future of the country is linked with exports.
Speaking at a seminar regarding export competitiveness in the FPCCI, Zubair Tufail said that regional countries are providing incentives to their export sector. He informed that the price of gas and electricity is 50 percent less than Pakistan while their labour is also cheap.
He said that energy is cheap as compared to Pakistan in the competing countries like Sri Lanka, Indonesia and that Indian textile exports have surged by over 31 percent in one year. Former Governor of State Bank of Pakistan Dr Ishrat Hussain Professor Dr Sarosh Hashmat Lodi, Vice Chancellor, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Professor Dr Javed Ashraf, VC, Quid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Professor Sikandar Mehdi, Senator Javed Jabbar, former federal minister, leaders of the business community and others were also present on the occasion.
Dr Ishrat Hussain said that exports play a very important role in keeping the economy stable therefore this sector should be facilitated. Reasons behind dwindled exports include cost and availability of energy, want of skilled labour and lack of interest in imparting training to the staff on the part of export industries, he said.
Dr Ishrat Hussain said that energy prices and some other reasons result in high cost of doing business which causes loss of competitiveness and retreat in the international market. Other speakers said that law and order situation also contributed to the increased cost of doing business while some conflicting policies should be rectified. Our exports are falling since 2013 while some other regional countries have doubled their exports during the same period, they added.
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