Cheaper electricity to revive economy’: business community

Businessmen have welcomed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s decision to reduce the power tariff, saying that it will “release financial pressure on consumers struggling with their electricity bills”. M. Abdul Aleem, Secretary General of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI), said “this is a good move despite rigid IMF conditionalities and limited fiscal space available to the government”. But, he added, this move alone would not stimulate the large-scale manufacturing (LSM) sector. More policy decisions are needed to kickstart business activities. “Nevertheless we compliment the PM and his team for the decision,” Abdul Aleem said. Ehsan Malik, the CEO of Pakistan Business Council (PBC), said “any reduction in power rates is welcome, especially since it comes after the steep tariffs on imports announced by US President Donald Trump”. But, Mr Malik added, the power rates were still higher than neighbouring countries. Zubair Motiwala, Chairman of the Businessmen Group (BMG), and Jawed Bilwani, President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), termed the prime minister’s initiative a “historic intervention” and a bold step towards providing much-needed relief to millions of households and thousands of businesses.