Macroeconomic reforms may turn Pakistan into economic power: LCCI

Macroeconomic reforms and necessary policy changes can turn Pakistan into an economic power that is a must to tackle the challenges posed by changing global scenario. The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Abdul Basit stated this while speaking at a seminar here Saturday. There is a dire need to get rid of the external influence to achieve the target of self-reliance and economic stability, he said. Those areas should be handled carefully that are hampering the collective growth of all sectors of economy, he added.
The LCCI President said the business community can play role of "economic force" in true sense of words therefore it should be facilitated and must be taken into confidence on trade and industry related issues. He said the taxation related issues of business community should be resolved on priority to create environment conducive for business activities, he added.
The government should also help manufacturing sector to reduce its production cost, he maintained. He asked the government to develop a clear policy for the loss-making public sector enterprises that are becoming an unbearable burden on the national economy and are eating up hundreds of billions of rupees annually. These PSEs should be pulled out from deficit that not impossible at all, he said. The LCCI chief also suggested to the government to announce incentives for the private sector to give boost to exports and control fast widening trade deficit. "Pakistan's exports are restricted to a few destinations.
Measures are direly needed to enhance export base by including more items and new export destinations", he said. In the 60s, collective exports of a number of Far Eastern countries were much smaller than Pakistan but today each country has bigger export than Pakistan and they achieved this milestone by giving proper consideration to the proposals of their respective business community, he said. He said that at a time when the global trade is poised for faster than expected upward growth and climbing out of this painful economic recession by putting people back to work, the situation in Pakistan is needed to be improved.