Islamabad, July 30, 2026: The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) has welcomed the Government of Pakistan’s decision to adopt a market-based fuel pricing mechanism through daily price adjustments, while urging authorities to introduce safeguards to protect businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), from excessive cost volatility.
In a statement, RCCI President Usman Shaukat said the chamber supports market-based pricing in principle, describing it as an important step towards improving fiscal transparency, strengthening market efficiency and ensuring long-term economic sustainability.
He said the policy would help eliminate artificial price controls that contribute to fiscal deficits, reduce incentives for fuel smuggling, improve refinery capacity utilization and enhance the credibility of monetary policy by preventing sudden price shocks in the future.
However, the RCCI president cautioned that daily fuel price fluctuations could create significant challenges for businesses by increasing uncertainty in transportation, manufacturing and logistics costs. He noted that SMEs, unlike larger corporations, lack access to financial hedging tools and are therefore more vulnerable to unpredictable increases in fuel prices.
Usman Shaukat said frequent changes in fuel prices could also accelerate inflation by raising freight, energy and production costs, placing additional pressure on businesses and consumers while affecting the competitiveness of export-oriented industries.
He further warned that persistent volatility could discourage long-term investment planning and capital expenditure, particularly for SMEs and agriculture-related value chains, while disproportionately impacting transport operators, small traders and the farming sector.
To address these concerns, RCCI proposed introducing a price-band mechanism under which fuel prices would be adjusted on a fortnightly basis within a pre-announced range instead of daily revisions. The chamber also recommended targeted relief programmes, including temporary fuel subsidies or tax incentives for SMEs during the transition period.
The chamber further called for the introduction of an automatic fuel surcharge mechanism for transport tariffs to protect transport operators from rising fuel costs, closer coordination between fuel pricing decisions and monetary policy to minimise inflationary pressures, and temporary fuel tax rebates for export-oriented industries to help maintain international competitiveness.
Reiterating its support for market-driven reforms, the RCCI president stressed that fuel pricing reforms should be accompanied by broader measures to support SMEs and exporters, ensuring that the transition does not undermine economic growth or business confidence.
