The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Friday urged the political parties to show maturity to safeguard the interests of the country. LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid said that due to political unrest trade and economic activities are sinking therefore the business community appeals the protestors to stay away from such politics.
He said that the country was facing a huge economic loss only because of irrational attitude of political players. A week of stalled economic activity costs the country $500 million or $2 billion per month and a weak economy like Pakistan cannot afford to lose even one million dollar loss to exports, he added. He said that political unrest is not only tarnishing the image of the country in the eyes of international community but is also hinder economic growth. The leadership of all political parties should join hands for strengthening the economy instead of hatching conspiracies against the government for their vested interests, he said.
While giving the recipe for economic independence, the LCCI president said there are a number of issues that must be tackled on priority. The biggest one is how to keep the momentum of growth in the wake of a less than targeted growth of the agriculture and the manufacturing sector. The second one is the widening gap between exports and imports that could be contained by enhancing exports, he added.
We have to focus on agriculture, manufacturing sector, education, water, human resources, minerals, public health, tax collection system and end of corruption to get rid of economic worries, he said. The agriculture is the largest sector of Pakistan as around 43 percent labour was dependent upon the agriculture. This sector needs revolutionary reforms on war footing as growth of agriculture sector would not only ensure food security and provision of raw material to the largest export-oriented industry textile but would also generate huge revenue for the government and vast employment opportunities, he added.
The LCCI president said the country's population is growing at the rate of around 2.10 percent every year and if this growth continues for next two decades, population would cross the mark of 240 million. Pakistan needs to increase the yield per acre on steady pace therefore government should plan to bring that about 9 million hectares of fertile land under cultivation which is remained useless just because of shortage of water, he added.
Malik Tahir Javaid said that shortage of water is one of the biggest challenges being faced by the country. He said that million acres land could be brought under cultivation by constructing the Kalabagh dam. He also stressed the need for developing regional, product specific and target oriented marketing strategy. New markets and new products need to be explored to reduce country's dependence on few commodities and countries, he said.
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