ISLAMABAD - The business community on has condemned the governments decision of increasing petroleum prices and said that the move would cause further inflation and poverty in the country, said a press release on Tuesday. President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mian Shaukat Masud said that the government had taken an anti-people decision by increasing the prices of petroleum products at a time when business had already been facing tough times due to multiple factors. Mian Shaukat said the countrys 70 per cent electricity in the country is generated by thermal means and raise in oil would also lead to increase in power prices. He said that in turn raise in power prices would cause more increase in prices of all other things, so produce inflation. When oil prices come down in the international market, the government makes a meagre cut, but when prices go up, it jacks up prices substantially. He said that this practice was unfair on the part of the government. He said that the government had already removed subsidies on electricity to meet the conditions of the IMF. He warned that the fresh increase would prove catastrophic for the national economy as business activities would be extremely minimised and exports would decline substantially. He said that if the government wanted economic development in the country, it would have to get rid of the IMF and make independent national policies.