Exporters urged to cash in on GSP Plus opportunity

Pakistan has achieved macroeconomic stabilisation and now efforts are being made to lock in this performance with effective, prudent and progressive monetary policy, said Dr. Umer Farooq Saqib, Additional Director, State Bank of Pakistan. He was addressing an awareness session in FCCI on 'Formulation of Monetary Policy and its implementation'.
He said that ultimate objective of the monetary policy is the effective management of money and exploitation of this important tool for the overall economic growth and betterment of common men. He also explained in detail the mechanism of price spiral, inflation and policy rate coupled with other elements responsible to regulate the money management. He said that SBP has to undertake a multi-disciplinary strategy to stabilise prices to expedite the economic growth and main streaming of the low-socio-economic classes.
He also explained in detail upheavals in the economy and said that the world economy started showing improvement from last year. The oil import bill of Pakistan was trimmed and foreign remittances recorded a substantial increase. However, the performance of our export sector remained below expectation. He also pointed out that the over-subscription of Pakistani Sukuk in international market reflects a healthy and positive aspect of our national economy.
He repeated that macroeconomic indicators are stabilised and now Govt is fully concentrating to keep this process sustained. He also touched upon GSP Plus Status to Pakistan and said that we could not fully exploit the available potential of this facility and are only concentrating on the export of textile products. He urged upon the exporters to fully capitalise this facility by increasing export in other sectors also. He said that a considerable improvement is also witnessed in viability of credit to the private sector. However, the change will be visible in September this year.
Earlier President FCCI, Engr Rizwan Ashraf explained the importance of Faisalabad and the role of FCCI in the economic development of this agro-industrial city.