Former Vice President, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Zubair F Tufail has advised the government to impose ban on import of luxury items. Talking to newsmen, he justified his demand by saying that out of 17 billion dollars reserves, around nine billion dollars is a load taken from International Monetary Fund (IMF) and has to be returned in the coming years.
He added that the country is passing through worst economic crises and could not afford to import luxury items. Tufail also demanded that the salary of government and private sector employees should be increased in relation with the escalation of prices in federal budget 2011-12. He noted that in the present circumstances, people are finding it hard to make both ends meet and generally, they are feeling depression and disappointment. He further said prices of essential items including food items have increased tremendously, resulting in fast declining purchasing power of the salaried class.