LAHORE, Sept 16: Ruling out further increase in any fuel price, Federal Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said on Tuesday the petrol price would be reduced further after a month month.

Addressing businessmen and industrialists at the Zonal Office of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) here, he said that diesel price had been increased under the policy of withdrawal of subsidies.

The subsidy having been withdrawn the government could now pass on the benefit of fall in international prices to the consumers. Power tariff could also be reduced in case the international fuel prices remained stable, he added.

He said that power loadshedding had become a big issue because no power plant had been built in the country after 1996. The Economic Coordination Committee had now sanctioned thermal power plants of 1,500 megawatt. The government had also decided building hydel, coal and wind power plants in future in view of high cost of thermal power generation.

He said the government had formed a committee to monitor energy situation on a daily basis and would announce the energy policy soon.

The committee would also decide about supply of gas to different sectors. He said that gas was also in short supply like electricity and the shortage was likely to persist till the supply was improved and enhanced on the completion of Iran-Pakistan-Indian pipeline project.

He said the government was also paying attention to wheat shortage and had decided increasing support price substantially to ensure a bumper crop next year.

He said the government had also entered into an agreement for export of mangoes to the United States. He said that mangoes would be exported to US on an experimental basis next year.

He said that tight monetary policy would be continued for the time being because the economy was under pressure and fiscal space was not available.

The government was not giving subsidy or research and development support to any sector as a result. He urged the business community to cooperate with the government.

He said that the government was imposing duty only on the import of finished goods to discourage flight of capital through imports. Duty was not being imposed on raw materials and semi-finished goods.

The government also wanted replacing the presumptive tax regime with income tax as early as possible but it was likely to continue till the present business culture was not changed and the tax collectors became honest.

In his address of welcome, FPCCI acting president Zubair Tufail said that the present government had inherited the problems of inflation, energy crisis and high food and fuel prices resulting in decline of foreign exchange reserves from $17 billion to $9 billion.

The government was not only required to control the energy crisis but also take steps to boosting production of wheat, cotton, rice and other crops.

Electricity tariff also required to be reduced to control increase in the cost of industrial production.

The 10 per cent withholding tax on electricity bills also required to be withdrawn, he added.