ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood has urged the industrialists to get the maximum out of the prime minister’s ‘energy relief package’.
In a series of tweets today, the Advisor said the longstanding demand for reduction in energy prices was now met by the government, so it was a good time for exporters, including SMEs, to utilize the benefits of reduced energy costs.
It was a long standing demand of our industry that our energy tariff be made competitive in order to reduce their cost of doing business. This demand has now been met. Exporters, large & SMEs, please utilize the benefits of reduced energy costs…1/2
— Abdul Razak Dawood (@razak_dawood) November 4, 2020
“It was a longstanding demand of our industry that our energy tariff is made competitive in order to reduce their cost of doing business,” he added.
“This demand has now been met. Exporters, large & SMEs, please utilize the benefits of reduced energy costs,” the advisor said. He maintained that the Ministry of Commerce would always support exporters in the hour of need.
…and go full speed ahead to translate this into greater exports for the country. The MOC is always at your service in case you face any hurdles. 2/2@ImranKhanPTI @aliya_hamza @PTVNewsOfficial @RadioPakistan @appcsocialmedia @tdap_official @pid_gov @Emergingpk
— Abdul Razak Dawood (@razak_dawood) November 4, 2020
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had unveiled a major relief package of the electricity tariff for small and medium industries to benefit from reduced energy costs.
Addressing the nation after a meeting of the federal cabinet, the prime minister said that starting November 1, the additional electricity used by SMEs will be sold at a 50 percent lower cost till June 30 next year.
“So whatever amount of electricity they used in addition to the level that they used last November, it will cost half of what it did previously,” he explained. “For example, the electricity that costs Rs16 per unit will now cost Rs8.”
The prime minister explained that the cost of electricity in the country was expensive because previous contracts signed for power generation were expensive which had adverse effects for the country.
He said that these rates will then be revised beyond the aforementioned date. He said all industries will be provided additional power at 25 percent of the rate for the next three years. The prime minister also said that industries will pay reduced electricity costs at all times and the concept of ‘off-peak hours’ will be redundant.
He said that after the coronavirus lockdown period, the nation has witnessed record-high cement sales, as well as high levels of automobile sales while the construction industry is also booming.
The prime minister lamented that the service industry was severely impacted during the lockdown period and it was necessary to support the industrial sector. He stated that the package would not only increase exports but would also give a boost to domestic industries.
