PVMA urges gas price revision

KARACHI: Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) on Monday said the recent hike in the gas tariff will increase the price of ghee and cooking oil by Rs5/kilogram, mainly hitting the underprivileged.

“An increase of 30 percent in the tariff of gas will push up the price of the 16-kg tin of ghee by Rs80. This increase will ultimately affect majority of consumers, therefore, it should be reversed,” Sheikh Abdul Waheed, chairman PVMA, said in a statement.

Waheed said the per capita consumption of ghee and cooking oil in Pakistan is already almost half of the global average. “It would go down further following an increase in the price of this commodity,” he added.

He said higher prices would understandably reduce the consumption of this food item. “The authorities can consider shielding this important sector of the economy from the recent escalation in gas price,” the PVMA chairman said.

Waheed said the gas tariff hike would not only reduce production and consumption but would also hit revenue and exports, while paving way for smuggling and imports to the peril of the economy.

“The government is thus urged to reverse the tariff of natural gas for vanaspati manufacturers to Rs600/mmBtu from Rs780/mmBtu. He further said the government should try to maintain a balance in the price of edibles like other countries and slap additional taxes and duties on the import of luxuries to generate more revenue and discourage the influx of those items.

He was on the view that local exploration was put on the back burner for five years, while import of costly liquefied natural gas was promoted, which increased the cost of doing business, damaged the economy, and undermined the affordability of masses.