LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has started consultation to prepare economic policy framework to help government to overcome grave challenges.
In this regard, the LCCI President Kashif Anwar met a team of economists, led by Ali Salman, Managing Trustee, Policy Research Institute of Market Economy on Friday and had a marathon discussion with them.
During course of discussion, it was decided that a document would be prepared for the government to guide it out economic mire. Ali Salman gave a detailed briefing to the president LCCI regarding economic situation and said that the government should bring down rate of taxes to increase revenue besides bring down ongoing expenditures.
LCCI president said that the current state of the economy requires more comprehensive solutions because the country is swiftly moving toward a scarcity of almost everything essential, as we are already witnessing shortages.
Due to continued repercussions from shocks like Covid-19 and the Ukraine war, Pakistan is one of the countries that are suffering the most. Pakistan's frail economy has suffered more than $ 30 billion in losses as a result of the floods’ devastation.
All state stakeholders - political parties, entrepreneurs, and citizens - must come together at this time to prevent the crisis from getting out of control and should sign a charter of economy.
LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that the major issue of these shortages of supplies whether industrial or consumer items is caused because of the shortage of raw materials and shortage always triggers inflation. The current pace of inflation is too high for our economy to handle.
He said due to the non-opening of LCs, the containers with raw materials and machinery are stuck at ports and incurring rising detention costs.
We are aware that the country is short on foreign currency, and international donors like the IMF programmes are running behind schedule, he said.
He continued by saying that we must think creatively and ask our own citizens to support the economy. To do this, we must declare an amnesty, which will have a very positive impact.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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