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

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

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the crisis has become a big 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 have signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 to reduce the use of coal and fossil fuel to reduce the impact of climate change but many countries have disregarded this deal due to emerging fuel challenges.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the cement industry will suffer the most in Pakistan as its production cost will increase due to reliance on imported coal and 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 increased to half a million tonnes thrice in the current fiscal which will go down substantially which will be a threat to private and public projects.