The recent hike in the prices of petroleum products has perturbed the businessmen of Karachi and they have urged the government to review the increase.
In a statement on Thursday, SITE Association of Industry President Abdul Rasheed criticised the government for raising prices of petroleum products and requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to withdraw the increase.
“If the decision is not reversed, it will become quite difficult for the business community to run factories because the cost of production will skyrocket,” he said.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) President Zulfikar Thaver said that even prior to the government’s decision, inflation had dented the purchasing power of the public.
After the jump in petrol prices, the cost of transportation, logistics, commuting and operating machinery will soar for every sector of the economy, he regretted.
Read: Petroleum products prices break all records
“Increase in fares of public transport will strike the school and college students as well,” he said.
According to him, it would encourage the manufacturers to hike prices of the goods.
“Besides, freight cost for exporters will climb as well,” he said.
He feared that the hike would turn Pakistan uncompetitive in the international market and cautioned that such an incident would batter the country’s economy.
Arif Habib Limited Head of Research Tahir Abbas said that the increase in local petroleum prices came on the back of jump in international oil prices to seven-year high value.
He added that global oil prices climbed owing to geopolitical tensions, particularly the unrest between Russia and Ukraine.
“The government cannot absorb the impact of increase in global oil prices for a long time therefore it was necessary to pass it on to the public,” he added.
He highlighted that the government was currently charging zero sales tax on petrol to facilitate the masses.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2022.
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