PYMA slams power, gas tariff hike

KARACHI: Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA) Senior Vice Chairman Sohail Nisar on Tuesday slammed the hike in electricity and gas tariff, and rejected anti-business and industry initiative.

He urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Federal Minister of Energy Power Division Khurram Dastgir Khan to reduce the cost of doing business in view of the ongoing serious economic crisis in the country.

The continuous decreasing of the Pakistani rupee and increase in dollar rate has already created difficulties for the importers of raw materials. Due to the unavailability of dollars, the containers of imported raw materials are stuck at the ports, and importers were facing serious losses in terms of heavy demurrage and detention charges, he added. Nisar said that in such circumstances, an increase of more than 400 percent in electricity and gas tariff would increase the cost of doing business to an unbearable extent, having disastrous effects on the industries and domestic exports.