The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Thursday welcomed the government decision to withdraw new gas curtailment plan and continue with the supply of gas to industry in Punjab for five days a week. LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that continuous supply of gas and electricity to the industry was a prerequisite to strengthen the economy that had been facing multiple challenges and pressures for a long time now.
He said it was not the export oriented textile sector that suffered badly but the millions of industrial workers also faced retrenchments and if the decision to cut gas to the industry for another day was implemented it would have again sparked street protests. The LCCI President said Punjab alone suffered a GDP loss of two to three percent because of energy shortages and a cut in gas supply for another day a week was bound to aggravate the situation further.
He said the economic scenario was not as rosy as being painted by some circles. "Foreign direct investment is at its lowest ebb while the large scale manufacturing sector was also crawling whereas neighbouring countries are doing a roaring business in the global market," he added.
He said that international buyers were reluctant to visit Pakistan because of unavailability of electricity and deteriorating law and order situation in some parts of the country. He said the cost of doing business in Pakistan was also higher when compared with regional countries while the unavailability of low cost finance had forced the businessmen to shelve their expansion plans.
"When the local businesses are unable to produce cheaper quality goods and when they cannot ensure timely delivery of their foreign orders why the foreign buyers would be coming to Pakistan to make purchases or to initiate new business ventures." Irfan Qaiser said LCCI had already, on a number of occasions, appealed to the State Bank Governor to bring down the mark up rate to single digit but all appeals fell on deaf ear with a result that the much needed industrialisation process turned stagnant.
He said the private sector could be engine of growth only when it was facilitated. This will create jobs, reduce poverty and inflation, improve exports, increase productions and build a stronger economy." He said that during his 12-day recent visit to Turkey and the UK, he found the businessmen over their cool, calm and well focused to their respective businesses while in Pakistan the business community spend its days and nights while dealing with other issues than the businesses they are dealing in.
"Their economies are doing well despite pressures and challenges while ours is going down with every passing day" he added. PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf would have to open dialogue with the private sector at the earliest for preparation new business friendly policies, he maintained.