KARACHI: An official said that the latest increase in the price of gasoline and diesel will have a multiplier effect on the cost of moving goods, which will drive the prices of goods and food even higher.
Shabbir Hassan Mansha, who is the acting president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), said he was shocked and amazed by how much the prices of gasoline and diesel have gone up.
The price hikes of Rs 24.03/litre for gasoline and Rs 59.16/litre for diesel will hurt a lot of people, he said.
The acting head of the FPCCI said that it is important to take into account the effects of previous oil price changes as well, since prices had already gone up twice in just two weeks before the latest increase.
“This is the third big increase in the price of petroleum products in 20 days. In total, the price of petrol has gone up by Rs84/litre, or 56%, and the price of diesel has gone up by Rs144/litre, or 83%. “
Mansha told them that there was going to be a huge problem with moving goods because the transporters couldn’t handle the 83% rise in diesel prices.
He also said that there are rumours that the government is thinking about bringing back the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL), and the business community doesn’t know when this spiral of rising prices that hurts business will end.
Mansha stressed that the true effects of rising oil prices will be visible in consumer price indices in 4 to 8 weeks. He said that the government should quickly come up with a way to protect small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), or else the skyrocketing rise in the cost of doing business will lead to a lot of SMEs going bankrupt and a lot of people losing their jobs.
The acting head of the FPCCI also said that he was worried about the huge increase in electricity prices of Rs7.91/unit, which will make the base tariff Rs24.82/unit for the year 2022/23. It was Rs 16.91/unit for the year 2021/22.
Also, there are a lot of rumours that electricity rates will go up even more, and he said that the combined effects of oil, electricity, and gas prices will make businesses impossible to run.
Mansha gave the apex body the full support of the FPCCI to start a consultative process between the government and all the stakeholders to figure out some operational contingencies during the current cost of doing business crisis.
