Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said that leading businessmen and experienced economists must be a part of the interim government to ensure economic integrity. Economy is in a sensitive mode and interim government cannot afford to run without a team of economic experts. While talking to a group of the representatives of different industries, LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid said the interim government will hold the reins of the system in its hands along with a bundle of economic challenges.
A team of leading businessmen and experienced economists is inevitable for the country. Only economically strong Pakistan can handle all sorts of international pressures. Therefore, "war against economic ills" should be initiated and a task force for economic revival, having representatives from both public and private sector, should be formed, asserted.
He said that political instability, below the mark foreign direct investment, high cost of doing business, politics on mega projects and huge trade deficit have led to stagnant growth in Pakistan. The government needs to address these issues through economic reforms, he said. Pakistan has all resources to become an economic giant but only it needs right directions with zeal, courage and sincerity, he maintained.
The LCCI chief said that Pakistan's huge mineral resources can help get rid of the economic ills, particularly external debts of over $91 billion, within next five years. He said that country has one of the largest reserves of gold & copper and coal in the world.
According to a rough estimate, value of coal reserves in Pakistan is 187 times more than the GDP of Pakistan. In addition to gold, copper and coal, the country has vast reserves of precious stones, gypsum, salt and marble but instead of taking full advantage of these God-gifted resources most of the share being exported in raw form. These resources must be used by the state instead of giving contracts to the foreign companies for extraction, he added. He also called for new technologies and training of human resources for the mining sectors.
While strongly supporting Kalabagh Dam, the LCCI president said that this mega project should not be sacrificed to the political wills as it has to play a major role in economic uplift of the country. The dam will have capacity to store six million acre feet of water that can benefit worth $12 billion annually to the national economy, he said. It can produce 3600 MW or 31.5 billion watts of electricity that would cost only Rs 2.50 per unit and country would be saving $4 billion annually on account of electricity generation.
Malik Tahir Javaid said that most of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) are strangling the national exchequer by eating up around Rs 600 billion annually. Wastage of this hard-earned money of the taxpayers is a sheer injustice. These PSEs should be turned into profitable by strict reforms, he said.
He said that market and products diversification is the best method to boost the exports. He said that Pakistani exports always remained dependent on a few items and countries. United States, China, Afghanistan, UK and Germany are top five trading partners of Pakistan while various lucrative destinations are still untouched.
Pakistani Missions abroad should be given task to find out new destinations for Pakistani products. He asked the government to facilitate export-oriented industries by resolving their genuine issues like delay in refunds, he said. Tourism industry is one of the largest industries with direct or indirect economic contributions of over $7.5 trillion but this sector of Pakistan is not working as good as it should be.
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