The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (RCCI) has strongly condemned the 10 percent increase in the prices of gas, saying that at a time when the utility prices were already touching skies, the decision would hamper the momentum of economic growth in the country.
In a statement here on Wednesday, RCCI President Jalil Ahmad Malik said it was high time that the government should ensure representation of all the stakeholders, including industrial, commercial and domestic users in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority instead of taking such decisions unilaterally. He said, on one hand increase in gas prices would hit the country's export while on the other it would dent the local business.
The RCCI president said that at the moment when inflation was already sky rocketing and disturbing the whole business scenario the recent increase in prices of petroleum and gas products would not only hit the overall economy but also increase the cost of production and as a result exports of the country would further decrease.
"Increase in prices of petroleum and gas products would also minimise the chances to control the increasing trend of deficit in the balance of payments," he added.
Malik said that across the board increase in prices of gas products would further take up the transportation charges, making the poor of the country poorer adding that it would have been better that the government should bear the increase itself instead of passing over it on to the people.
He was of the view that raise in the prices of diesel had already hit the agriculture sector, which is backbone of the country, adding that continued rise in gas prices had already many sectors shut resultantly poverty has increased and impact started to appear in different shapes and forms. "The first and most hit is the poor class of the country, which constitutes majority of the population," he maintained.
Malik further said that around 40 percent of the people in the country were still living below the poverty line, which means they could hardly get one-time meal a day. "Higher gas prices mean higher food, higher transportation charges and higher utility bills," he added.