HYDERABAD: A leader of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has called for a complete rationalisation of industrial energy tariffs to match regional competitors and ensure a steady, affordable power supply.
Adeel Siddiqui, a member of the FPCCI Executive Committee from Hyderabad, on Monday said the techdriven tax regime should be simplified and harassment completely eliminated, particularly for exportoriented industries, and urged the State Bank of Pakistan and the government to create a targeted financing window for labour-intensive industries at subsidised rates.
In a statement, he expressed frustration over the government’s failure to capitalise on Pakistan’s most competitive economic advantage: cheapest labour in the region and warned that without immediate structural alignment, the demographic dividend would turn into a demographic disaster.
He said Pakistan’s labour cost was nearly 34pc cheaper than India, 41pc cheaper than Vietnam, and a massive 62pc cheaper than China, giving Pakistan a distinct edge in labour-intensive manufacturing, textiles, and export-oriented industries.
He said China was exactly where Pakistan was decades ago and, by leveraging its vast pool of cheap labour, attracted massive foreign direct investment (FDI), built a robust manufacturing base, and sparked an industrial revolution that transformed it into the world’s factory.
He said cheap labour alone was not a strategy, adding that Pakistan’s advantage was being undermined by what he called ‘Big 3 trouble alignments’ an energy pricing crisis, a taxation quagmire, and high interest rates and costs.