ISLAMABAD            -       The IMF’s formula to revive the power sector known as ‘full cost recovery’ will prove the last nail in the coffin of shambling economy, business leaders said Wednesday. IMF wants the government to recover the full cost of power generation from honest consumers which are paying their bills well in time while the lender also want to burden the power consumers with the losses resulting from theft, incompetence, mismanagement and corruption, said former ICCI President Shahid Rasheed Butt along other businessmen. Shahid Rasheed Butt said that the full cost recovery without reforms in the power sector amounts to exploitation of power consumers and rewarding the corrupt officials.

People are getting costliest electricity in the region and the power tariff is increasing steadily which will leave productive sector paralysed, he said, adding that masses are not responsible for the problems of the power sector.

Shahid Rasheed Butt said that once electricity was cheapest in Pakistan that has now become very costly as politicians, bureaucrats and big business groups have made fortunes out of this unfortunate sector.

Why the politicians who made shady deals with private power producers and managed to give them billions without proper justification are not being held accountable, he asked. The business leader noted that some businessmen damaged the power sector with the help of politicians but no action was ever taken against them.

Some influential elements are still milking the power sector for their own petty gains for which masses are made to pay which is unjustified.

He said that following unprecedented taxes on masses and the business community the authorities are planning to slap taxes on the feed of livestock, fish and poultry which will unleash another wave of inflation.

 Some African nations have made animal feed costs cheaper by removing taxes on the raw materials used in their production to encourage private investment and increase access to meat, milk and eggs and also, boost the feed production industry, he informed. Pakistan will remain depended on foreign loans and will have to tolerate interference in important matters as long as the tax administration focuses on extracting more revenue out of the masses, he warned.