MULTAN, August 23rd: The Business community on Wednesday urged the government to reduce gas and electricity tariff for the export-oriented industry to make local goods competitive on the world markets and to make the business viable. President of Multan Chanmber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi said that India, Bangladesh. Thailand, and other regional countries were providing incentives to their export sector.The price of gas and electricity is about 50 per cent less in other countries of the region, besides their labour is also cheap, and due to these inputs, their exports had witnessed significant increase, he observed.Roomi reiterated his demand that the government should reduce the price of gas, besides slashing the power tariff to give a boost to the industrial sector. Roomi said that exports play a very important role in keeping the economy stable and stressed the need to facilitate the sector.He said the high cost of doing business is the main cause of loss of competitiveness and retreat in the international market for Pakistani exporters.Reasons behind decrease in exports include the high cost and unreliable availability of energy, want of skilled labour and lack of interest in imparting training to the staff on part of the exports industries, he said.
