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FAISALABAD, Sep 09 (APP):The Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) has demanded proportionate decrease in markup rate has become imperative after the substantial decline in inflation to stabilize the economy on a solid and sustained basis.
Addressing a hurriedly-called press conference here on Monday, FCCI Senior Vice President Dr Sajjad Arshad that improvement in one indicator is not enough and the government must take necessary measures to cut down markup rate to provide cheap finances to the industrial sector enabling it to import machinery and create maximum jobs for the unemployed youth.
He said that FCCI had already highlighted the issue of IPPs. All chambers have a unified stand about the IPPs as well as reduction in markup rate from the platform of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI). A petition was also pending in the Supreme Court about the IPPs and we are still pressing hard to conduct a forensic audit so that 240 million people of Pakistan could know how these agreements were inked and by whom, he added.
He said that now we are demanding substantial decrease in markup rate so that the industrial sector in general and SME in particular could import the latest machinery to cut down its production cost.
Responding to a question, he said that the finance minister in his budget speech had announced the provision of electricity to the industrial sector at 14 cent per unit but a notification in this regard is still awaited. Ad-hoc policies are yet another reason for hampering the process of new investment as they could not predict the safety and security of their investment due to rapid policy changes in Pakistan, he added.
He said that all economic policies including solarization may be for at least for 15-20 years so that investors could make their investment without any fear of abrupt change in the economic scenario.
He said that at FESCO level, the consumers have consumed 40-45 % less electricity. The share of solar in this shortfall is only 3-4% while the remaining decline is due to the increase in the electricity tariff and subsequent closure of industries, he added.
He once again repeated his demand that the markup rate should be cut down so that investors could easily import machinery and raw material to generate much-needed economic activity. If there is any hurdle to bring down markup rate at single digit, then the government should announce a decrease of 400 basic points in the markup rate, he added.