LCCI for sharing economic plan with stakeholders

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Thursday stressed the need for sharing economic plans with the stakeholders that would help financial managers to evolve aggressive policy to cope with the economic challenges. LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid said that Pakistan would have to be economically strong to stand firm in the influential economies. He said sharing of economic plan with the stakeholders would be good for both public and private sectors. Pakistan is abundant with vast resources and does not need any external financial help therefore upcoming government should tap the resources instead of looking towards the international financial institutions.
He said economic weaknesses give room to external powers to interfere in our internal matters. The highest circular debt, trade deficit, discouraging exports, high ratio of debts, rupee devaluation, water shortage and miseries of agriculture sector have led to stagnant growth in Pakistan, he said.
He said the new government must address these issues through good economic reforms and in consultation with the stakeholders. Pakistan has all resources to become an economic giant but it only needs to set directions with zeal, courage and sincerity, he said.
The LCCI chief said that Pakistan's huge mineral resources can help get rid of the economic ills, particularly external debts of over $ 90 billion, within next five years. The country has one of the largest reserves of gold and 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 and only 2-percent of Pakistani coal reserves that can generate 20,000 MW of electricity for almost 50 years.
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 the resources, most of the share is being exported in raw form, he said. The state should manage extraction of these resources instead of giving contracts to the foreign companies. He also called for new technologies and training of human resources for the mining sectors.
While supporting construction of Kalabagh Dam, the LCCI President said 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. Most of the 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, he said, adding that the PSEs should be turned into profitable by strict reforms.
Malik Tahir Javaid said that market and products diversification is the best method to give a boost to the exports. Pakistani exports always remained dependent on a few items and limited destinations. United States, China, Afghanistan, United Kingdom and Germany are top five trading partners of Pakistan while various lucrative destinations are still untouched, he added.