KARACHI: Chairman of BMG Zubair Motiwala and President of SITE Association of Industry (SAI) Riazuddin have condemned the “unbearable” increase in electricity tariff as a result of forced withdrawal of Rs19.99/kWh rate effective from 1st March 2023.

Unfortunately, the abrupt tariff hike was backed by Nepra.

Jointly addressing a large gathering of affected SMEs in SITE area, they said that the step is detrimental to exporters as most of the SMEs are indirect exporters and are closely weaved into the supply chain of exporting industries.

Zubair Motiwala further said that in such difficult times when the nation is in dire need of foreign exchange, this anti-competition move will further erode the competitiveness of the local exporting industries, resulting in further shrinkage of exports which stood at US 32 billion dollars in FY 2021-22 and are feared to go down to US 27-28 billion dollars in the current fiscal year.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023