Businessmen have lambasted the government for sharply raising the prices of petrol products in the country to an all-time high and feared that it would dent the economic activity.
In a meeting on Wednesday, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Muhammad Shakeel Munir pointed out that the hike would entail harmful consequences for business activities and unleash a new wave of inflation for the common man.
He urged the government to immediately withdraw the decision to save the businesses and the people from its grave consequences.
“The petrol price has been hiked by around Rs12, high-speed diesel and kerosene oil by around Rs10 and light diesel oil by over Rs9,” he informed the participants. “They are now at a record high level.”
He lamented that the government had also raised petroleum levy by Rs4 per litre during the ongoing tough times and noted that it was done to appease the International Monetary Fund.
According to him, the rise in petrol and diesel prices would cause a manifold increase in the energy and transportation expenses due to which, the cost of doing business would multiply.
He added that frequent hikes in utility tariffs and rates of POL products in Pakistan would discourage businessmen from investing in the country.
He stressed upon the government to substantially slash the non-development expenditures and provide some relief to inflation-stricken people.
Separately, the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) also expressed deep concern over the increase in prices of petroleum products and demanded the government to immediately review the prices.
In a statement, RCCI President Nadeem Rauf said that the business community was deeply concerned over the sharp jump in the prices, adding that inflation was already in double digits and persistent increase in prices of commodities would lift it even higher.
“Petrol and diesel prices directly impact the transportation cost,” he said.
He feared that the construction industry would be direly affected because rising diesel prices would lift the cost of its raw material.
The RCCI president underlined that people were facing difficulties due to the high inflation and the business community was struggling to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2022.
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