Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday defended the recent rise in the base power tariff of around Rs5 per unit on the demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adding that there is no other way but to initiate drastic structural and economic reforms to face the prevailing challenges and steer Pakistan out of economic and other problems.
A day ago, the power regulator raised the tariff to ensure Rs3.28 trillion in funds to the loss-making power distribution companies (Discos) during the current fiscal year. The Rs4.96 hike, set to come into force from July 1 after formal notification by the government, would provide Rs477 billion in additional revenue to Discos.
He expressed these views in a meeting with office-bearers of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and renowned businessmen and industrialists here at Governor’s House. Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman, LCCI President Kashif Anwar, Senior Vice President Zaffar Mehmood Chaudhry, Vice President Adnan Khalid Butt and a number of former LCCI presidents and business tycoons including Shahzad Ali Malik, Mian Misbahur Rehman, Almas Haider, Muhammad Ali Mian and Mian Anjum Nisar attended the meeting. Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar participated in the meeting through video-link while high-ups of various departments were also present.
The PM said the government was taking all possible measures for promotion of industry and agriculture; however, in the given circumstances and in the face of grave challenges, industrialists and business community would have to play their role even more actively for enhancing exports and stabilising the economy.
He said that industrialists and business community had vast experience in production and they were playing a pivotal role in the country’s economy. The business community should also consider the facts that despite having rich resources, why Pakistan’s economy was unable to achieve the desired targets and its full potential, he said, citing that Bangladesh textile sector totally rely on imported cotton, but it was developing fast and gaining a niche in the global market, while Pakistan’s textile was losing competition in the export markets.
He asserted that Pakistan had been producing 14-billion-cotton bales, but today, it had decreased to mere five-billion bales and it was a collective failure. “We are living in a regime where industry has become nothing but rental income, as we are not ready to face challenges or to adopt modern technology,” he regretted and added that support and subsidies from the government had not be materialised properly,” he observed.
The prime minister recalled that as the Punjab chief minister, he had constructed farm-to-market roads in the province with a cost of Rs 100 billion, and these roads should have been constructed through the Sugarcane Cuss Fund. He added that in 1990, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had started economic reforms, which produced the best results, and the other countries also adopted that reforms model and progressed. He said that the developmental projects, initiated by Nawaz Sharif during his tenure, were delayed and their costs increased by 30 to 40 billion rupees, which could be spent on research centres of various crops and industrial sectors development.
