President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, while rejecting the unexpected hike in price of petroleum, stated that although a hike somewhere in between Rs5 to Rs9 per liter was being expected as prices of petroleum products have increased in the international market but it was highly unfair to blatantly raise petrol price locally by Rs13.55 per liter which would terribly hit all segments of society and intensify the hardships particularly for general public, besides terribly affecting the industrial production as the cost of doing business would obviously go up.
In a statement issued, President KCCI said that when dollar has attained some stability nowadays, this hike in petroleum price was not making any sense which, if necessary, should have been raised by a minimum Rs5 per liter with a view to pass on minimum impact on the poor masses who were excessively overburdened in the ongoing era of inflation. “The government has been charging Rs60 per liter petroleum levy which is the maximum permissible limit under the relevant law.
To minimize the hardships, the government should have reduced its petroleum levy to some extent for dealing with the price difference in local and international market which unfortunately was not done”, he said, adding that the caretaker government continues to take ruthless decisions in the form of raising petrol, gas and electricity prices to squeeze the public and the industries which was totally unacceptable.
He opined that keeping in view the economic crises being faced by the country, the government has to take harsh steps in order to generate the required revenue for overcoming expenditures and fulfilling international commitments but instead of taking these steps back-to-back.
