Record-breaking rainfall in Pakistan has disrupted the business activities which have already been hampered in the last few months due to Covid-19 outbreak.
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, Senior Vice President Ali HussamAsghar and Vice President Mian Zahid Jawaid Ahmadin made the demand in a statement issued here on Friday.
The LCCI office-bearers said the economic growth in 2019-20 has already contracted to negative 0.4 percent while the Industrial sector exhibited a negative growth rate of 2.64 percent in 2019-20.
They said the power outages due to the rainfall have made it difficult for the industries to ensure their domestic production and the export oriented industries to fulfill their export orders.
Furthermore, the immense rainfall resulting in traffic jams in major arteries of the urban centers has made it difficult for the Business owners, particularly in the retail sector to commute smoothly and operate their businesses and the consumers to visit the retail outlets, they said, adding, in a nutshell it can be said that the supply chain of Businesses has been disturbed due to rainfall.
In this scenario, the LCCI office-bearers recommend that government should announce a special relief package for the businesses which have not been able to operate smoothly due to heavy rains.
They said the energy tariff across all sectors of businesses should be reduced while the Interest payments of Businesses should also be deferred for a period of six months.
