It called upon the government to immediately withdraw increase in POL prices to save the businesses and people from further troubles.

He said that government has also increased policy rate by another 50 basis points (bps) to 10.75 percent with effect from 1st April, 2019 that would make banks credit costly for the private sector and discourage new investment.

Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the price of crude oil had increased less than 2 percent in international month in March, but the government has increased POL prices by more than 6 percent, which was unjustified. He said that the government was already charging 17 percent GST on POL products apart from Rs. 18 per litre petroleum levy on HSD and Rs.14 per litre on petrol due to which the consumers were paying high prices on POL products.

He said the cost of doing business in Pakistan was already quite high and further hike in POL prices would make the survival of businesses difficult leading to further slump in economic activities. He urged that government should reduce high taxes and charges on POL products and withdraw the recent hike in their prices as it was not a wise approach to further burden the businesses and the general public at a time when the economy was struggling for revival.

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President, ICCI said the recent hike in POL prices would make movement of raw materials and trading goods costly.

They said the industrial sector will be the immediate victim of the hike in POL prices as it was one of the major raw materials for industries.

They said the move would also reduce the competitiveness of Pakistani goods in the international market and foil the government`s efforts for revival of exports.

They said the economy of Pakistan was already facing many challenges due to rising trade deficit, falling exports and heavy cost of debt servicing.

In this scenario, increasing prices of POL products would create more difficulties for the economy.

They emphasized that instead of hiking POL prices, government should focus on reducing taxes and duties on POL products and control non-developmental expenditures.