Pakistan Industrial and Traders Association Front (PIAF) on Saturday urged the government to reduce petroleum prices in line with the decrease in the international market. In a statement issued here, the PIAF Chairman Sohail Lashari said that high oil prices in Pakistan had badly affected its competitiveness, pushing it out of the global market place.
Urging the government to bring down the cost of doing business in the country, the PIAF chairman also called for eliminating unscheduled load-shedding, saying another batch of industrialists was planning to shift their industrial units abroad. He said that if the "flight of capital goes on unchecked, the country will become a market place, instead of a manufacturing hub".
The PIAF chairman said that protests against power outages were sending wrong signals to investors in foreign countries, adding that the government should make all out efforts to control the situation. He said that a lot can be done in overcoming the power shortage by accelerating the payment of outstanding dues and controlling electricity theft.