On Saturday, the Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said the energy crisis is to shrink global GDP and increase poverty and degrade the environment.

The global energy crisis results in the increased price of petrol, diesel, gas, and coal, but coal has seen the highest price surge up to 200 percent, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the crisis had become a significant threat to global recovery, but it has also provided a new lease of life to the dying coal industry.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the demand and price of coal are increasing by leaps and bounds, which has started damaging industries like power production, cement, metal, chemical, glass, textile and cotton fibre etc. He said that 196 countries and associations had signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 to reduce the use of coal and fossil fuel to reduce the impact of climate change. Still, many countries have disregarded this deal due to emerging fuel challenges.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the cement industry would suffer the most in Pakistan as its production cost will increase due to reliance on imported coal. It will also hit construction activities.

The demand for cement will be reduced due to increased price fanning unemployment and stalled investments.

He said that cement production has significantly increased to half a million tonnes in the current fiscal year, which will go down substantially, a threat to private and public projects.