The patron-in-chief of the United Business Group, S. M. Muneer, has suggested that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi should appoint a permanent or caretaker finance minister performing fulltime. Talking to journalists at a lunch hosted by the UBG for newsmen, he said that Pakistan is facing serious economic issues which need immediate attention and on his own the.prime minister cannot give due attention because of his other impotent engagements, he added.
He said Pakistan is facing serious economic challenges such as high costs of doing business, high tariff on gas and electrify and dwindling exports, which together result in closure of a large number of units in the country, many of them shift abroad.
He said that because the textile sector is the backbone of the country's economy in exports, it faces the brunt of the high cost of doing business, which has become unviable. The government must take appropriate steps to bring down the costs of production and doing business, he said.
He said after the FPCCI elections the UBG will shortly call a businessmen's convention in Lahore to disuses economic issues and formulate proposal for economic revival. These proposals will be sent to the government for consideration and implementation.
If these suggestions remained unattended, "we, in consultation with businessmen," will decide the future line of action. He said that there are around Rs 300 billion stuck up and if they are released there could be an upsurge in exports.
He said that the FPCCI has invited all leaders of political parties to announce their respective economic agendas. In the next few days Prime Minister Abbasi, Asif Ali Zardari, and Senate chairman Raza Rabbani are expected to visit the FPCCI. He said that those opposed to the UBG should start a countdown for the coming elections of the FPCCI. He claimed that all the chambers of commerce of the country are united on the UBG platform, and their nominees would get 100 percent of the votes.
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