Prices should not be brought down at the cost of businesses. The government should formulate a comprehensive strategy supportive for the industry in the post-Covid era and also help to reduce the inflation. Due to consistent inflation, the prices of basic commodities and utilities have touched new peaks. These conditions have greatly contributed in increasing the cost of doing business that has made the lives of manufacturers and traders even more difficult. The government should refrain from stressing the business community and take immediate steps while taking all the stakeholders of economy into confidence to control the price hike.
President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mian Tariq Misbah, Senior Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan and Vice President Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry urged the government to rationalize the facilities given to the industrial sectors in other regional countries to curb the increasing inflation.
They underlined the areas where little changes can rapidly change the state of affairs i.e they said that the gas is being provided on 1,021 MMBTU whereas the new connection on RLNG are being provided on higher rates which need to be decreased.
Similarly, they said that the electricity tariffs are higher compare to regional countries which ultimately result in high cost of doing business and inflation. They marked other major reasons which include rupee devaluation, often very fluently and constantly. These phenomenons, where it is easy to predict the valuation of the currency, many discrepancies involve in business activities which again lead to the inflation.
They said the interest rate should be decreased further to support the businesses, especially the medium and smaller ones, adding the need to do it now is the Corona. Businesses need to lend money more than ever before and they are waiting the interest rate to be further decreased and become more feasible for the businesses.
Talking about the minimum wage, the LCCI office-bearers said that compare to the minimum wage in India 71 USD and Bangladesh 94 USD, we are paying 108 USD. Water tariff is also high which increases the cost of doing business and leads to inflation.
