PBIF chief terms KE's ISPA adjustment demand 'unjust'

President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), Mian Zahid Hussain, has said coronavirus has started damaging the already fragile economy of the country.
The central banks across the world have been cutting interest rates while the governments are offering packages to boost economic activities but the situation in Pakistan is otherwise, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that now K-Electric has started asking the industrial sector for an additional sum of Rs 5 billion under the Industrial Support Package Adjustment which should be noticed by Prime Minister Imran Khan as it will bankrupt the industries facing multiple problems.
He said that Karachi is supporting millions of people while contributing 50 percent of exports and 54 percent of indirect taxes which must be spared.
Mian Zahid Hussain noted that industrialists are already under pressure and now K-Electric is asking for the electricity consumed from July 2019 to December 2019 which is constitutionally and morally wrong as well as illegal.
He said that global recession has reduced demand for Pakistani exports, therefore, the issue of excessive billions should be settled without delay.
He said that closure of the industrial sector will result in heavy losses and massive unemployment.
He noted that import and export to Afghanistan is suspended while hundreds of containers are stranded on both sides of the border creating problems for businessmen and creating shortages of important items.
Both the countries should initiate measures like spraying etc. and allow bilateral trade to continue to provide relief to the masses, he said.