‘Cut in oil consumption, working days to help avoid forex crisis’

LAHORE:LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir has thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for accepting LCCI suggestions for bringing down oil and power consumption.

Mian Nauman Kabir a few days back through an open letter had urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to end across the board subsidy on petroleum products, targeted subsidy, reduction in consumption and considering reduction in working days. He said these steps will definitely help avoid the forex crisis.

“Country like Pakistan cannot afford wasting business community’s hard-earned money to unchecked import of oil products. Oil imports during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year (July-April 2021-22) stood around 17 billion dollars which are 95 percent more than that during the corresponding period last year”, Mian Nauman said in a statement here on Sunday.

“Thank you very much Prime Minister for accepting LCCI suggestions for bringing down oil and power consumption”. He said that it is a very good sign that the government has accepted the LCCI proposals regarding removal of controversial subsidies on POL products, reduction in consumption and various others which were forwarded to the Prime Minister through an open letter a few days ago.

The LCCI president said that the government should keep in view the stakes of Pakistan first, remove controversial subsidies and eventually help the rupee and the current account recover. Mian Nauman said that it also a good sign the LCCI proposals for reduction in working days is seriously under consideration by the policymakers. He said according to an estimate, it can save over $ 1.5 billion per annum.

He said the government should also adjust daily working hours to get most of the business done during daylight hours. It will help bring down the skyrocketing utility cost. He added that by using daylight through installing effective skylights and panels, a business can cut its usage of traditional artificial lighting by as much as 80 percent, resulting in a substantially lower monthly utility bill. He said that according to various studies, daylight can be significantly healthier for workplace human resources.

The LCCI president repeating the demand said that Sunday should be considered a complete petrol-free day except for medical reasons and people should go for grocery and other necessary shopping on Sunday to the nearby shops by foot or bicycle.

He said till the time international oil prices come down, the usage of more than 1800cc vehicles should be discouraged. The LCCI president said that conservation of energy and less reliance on energy produced from imported raw materials is the need of the hour.

He said Pakistan is one of those countries that are heavily dependent on hydrocarbon fuel for energy production. He said this results in severe CO2 emissions that leads to climate change. He added that although renewable energy resources such as wind and solar are available in abundance, they have not been fully utilised and so energy crisis in Pakistan increases every year.