Secretary General (Federal) of the Businessmen Panel and former chairman Standing Committee of the FPCCI, Ahmad Jawad has said that depreciation of Pakistani rupee and hike in interest rate and cost of doing business are major blunders of the incumbent government. He said that during last seven decades, it has been proved that once currency is devalued, it cannot be restored to previous value even after major correction. He said on the currency (PKR) devaluation, history would determine whether Finance Minister was correct or not.
However, business community seeks some out of box solution, he emphasised, adding that the said measures had hit traders and industrialists at large. He asked how they could get relief from this. The BMP SG (Federal) said that the first devaluation undertaken by the PTI government jolted economy although it somehow restored some confidence but briefly. He noted that the second devaluation, which was considerably more disorderly in the wild swings it generated and accompanied by one of the sharpest interest rate hikes in many years.
"Frankly I can't recall the last time we saw a 150 basis point hike in a single stroke since 2008. It jolted the economy and the government alike," he said, adding that the government had obtained Rs 3,500 billion record loan during six months. He said inflation was increasing day by day because right person is not on the right job. Similarly, he said, incumbent government presented third budget in the Parliament during its first six months and increased the prices of electricity, oil and gas products and other commodities many times. He said that now the government is going to increase the price of electricity once again.
"We strongly condemn the government on these actions and urge to take measures for the relief of the common man," he urged.
Ahmed Jawad said that if we take a look, Pakistan exports and foreign direct investment (FDI) only grew by 140 percent and 160 percent, respectively, in last two decades. While in India, exports and FDI saw a tremendous growth of 719pc and 1627pc and Bangladesh's both indicators grew by 680pc and 800pc, respectively. He said that in terms of corruption and governance, India and Bangladesh are neither more transparent nor more efficient than Pakistan but the only difference between Pakistan and them is continuity of policies.
"In 2019, where are we heading? Large scale manufacturing has contracted for the first time in over seven years; agriculture sector is under performing due to increase in the prices of inputs, particularly fertilisers; wholesale and retail sectors are under performing due to lacklustre industrial activity and massive devaluation," he said, adding that transport and logistics sector is depressed, inflation is increasing rapidly and highest since 2015 whereas cost of doing business has gone sky high.
The BMP official said that circular debt has increased from Rs 1.1 trillion to Rs 1.4 trillion at twice the rate than what it was during the PML-N government. He said Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is facing record shortfall in revenue collection of Rs 237 billion in first eight months. He said the S&P has downgraded Pakistan's credit ratings to B-. he said that after achieving thirteen-year high growth of 5.8pc in 2018, Pakistan's economy is now headed for around 4pc growth and even less for coming years. He said that India's economy is growing at an average of 7pc for last several years while Bangladesh's economy is growing at 7 percent. He asked could Pakistan afford to grow merely at 4 percent.
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