ICCI for withdrawal of hike in prices of daily use items at USC outlets.

ISLAMABAD -- Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has asked the government to immediately withdraw hike in prices in daily use items at Utility Stores Corporation to save people from further troubles.

Saif ur Rahman Khan, acting President ICCI, said that before the implementation of government's Rs6 billion package of subsidy, the Utility Stores Corporation has reportedly given manifold increase in the prices of many daily use items including ghee, sugar, rice, flour and lentils that would put additional burden on the common man and stressed that government should immediately withdraw hike in daily use items to save people from further troubles.

Saif ur Rahman Khan said that that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation has already increased to 12.7 percent which was a record increase in the last 9 years and in these circumstances, increasing prices at USC items would bring more miseries to general public.

He stressed that government should focus on reducing the cost of doing business besides evolving a comprehensive price control mechanism.

He said that heavy taxation, hike in oil prices and significant increase in electricity and gas tariffs have pushed up the inflation to record level, which should be a cause of concern for the policy makers. He said that inflation was on the rise at a...