The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Thursday demanded that industrial sector should be exempted from gas loadshedding immediately to save the industrial as well as agriculture sectors from a total collapse. FPCCI Chief, Senator Haji Ghulam Ali, VP SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry and veteran trade leader Iftikhar Ali Malik in a joint statement said that survival of all the countries always depends on sound economy.
Therefore, it was in the greater national interest that the government should reshape its load management policy and exempt the industrial sector from gas loadshedding. "It will be very difficult for the local industry to meet the export target of $14 billion if industrial sector is not exempted from gas loadshedding," they added. If this sector, they said, was not exempted from loadshedding, millions of employees of industrial sector will be rendered jobless.
They demanded of government to accord top priority to industrial and agriculture sector in the larger interest of the national economy. They said that the industry was already facing energy crisis and ever-increasing prices of gas and electricity had squeezed the liquidity. They said that world over, all developed and modern countries always, in case of gas and electricity shortage, attached a great importance to industrial and agricultural sector than domestic consumers.
Both the leaders of business community said keeping in view the business scenario world over, the high rate of mark-up by banks should also be brought down to a single digit for providing solace to the industry. Malik said abrupt hike in gas, power and petroleum products was disturbing the manufacturers, already hard hit by loadshedding and weak rupee against dollar. He said that hike would lead to higher cost of production.
LCCI SVP, Kashif Younis Meher said that shortage of gas and power and increasing prices would continue to burden the industrial sector, which was already facing high mark-up rate and energy crisis. "All these factors are increasing the cost of doing business," he added.