KARACHI: The 40 per cent hike in gas tariff has pushed up price of 10kg carton of laundry soap by Rs40-50 followed by Rs80-100 hike on 10kg carton of toilet soap.

Senior Vice Chairman Pakistan Soap Manufacturers Association (PSMA) Shahzad Paracha said this was just the initial impact of gas price hike which was raised on September 27, 2018.

“We are also calculating the negative impact of rupee devaluation against dollar on imported raw material used in soap manufacturing,” he said adding the retail price is likely to rise further.

Chairman PSMA Usman Ahmed said the industry is utilising gas as raw material for producing their goods. The government has taken the decision without taking all the sectors into confidence. The decision must be withdrawn immediately.

Decision to burden the local industry was taken without making any serious efforts to control line losses/unaccounted for gas incurred by gas distribution companies, he said.

Usman said the gas tariff hike would force number of local industries to shut down resulting in loss of employment as industrial production is becoming more and more expensive every day. In Pakistan, economic and monetary policies are not supporting industrial sector, making local products costlier and uncompetitive in the region, he added.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2018

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