Businessmen slam price hike

SIALKOT: The Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has criticised the hefty increase in petroleum product prices.

The increase would push up the cost of industrial production which is already under pressure because of high electricity and gas charges, said SCCI President Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry while requesting the government to take back the decision.

The only beneficiaries are oil marketing companies whose profit margins would rise while people will suffer, he said.

Chaudhry also expressed concern over news that electricity tariffs are being increased by at least two per cent from November. The result will be massive unemployment and decline in government revenues as industries will be forced to close down, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2010.