The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has called upon the government to withdraw the recent hike of Rs.1.95 per unit in electricity across the board as it would put additional burden of around Rs.200 billion on consumers. Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Pakistan needed to boost exports to get rid of foreign debt burden and attain sustainable economic growth, however, the repeated increase in power tariffs would increase cost of doing business and make Pakistani products more uncompetitive in the international market leading to further decline in business activities and exports. He said that electricity was a major input for many SMEs and large scale manufacturing units, therefore, the hike in power tariff would hurt their business significantly that would damage our economy. Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that electricity cost in Pakistan was already considered highest in the region due to which it was difficult for our industry to compete effectively with regional competitors.