LAHORE: Food and energy security should be made part of the national security policy besides agreeing on a charter of economy to steer the country out of the economic mess, said leading tax and economic expert Dr Ikram Ul Haq.

He said a continuity of both the food and energy crisis means that the state has failed to fulfill its responsibility where the elite is busy in money making and concentration of wealth.

According to him, the economic subjugation has led to political subjugation in the country where the rulers are taking the IMF package as a bailout package. It is actually a death blow for the country, he stressed.

Dr Haq said the industry could not flourish at a higher mark up of 17% anywhere in the world. Banks, on the other hand, are involved in the business of speculation and yet escaping heavy penalties for their wrongdoing, he added. He was addressing a gathering organized by ‘Forum of Advocacy and Innovative Research’ on Monday.

According to him, everyone in the country was anxious about the prevailing economic situation while banks have played the role of predator in the recent dollar crunch, leading to hyper inflation in the country.

Dr Haq said the industrial output could not sustain without resolving the energy issue and the desire for a knowledge-based economy would remain a wild dream without enhancing the internet speed in the country.

He said the textile industry was contributing 60% to the exports but yet it was demanding a regionally competitive energy tariff, which, if extended by the government, falls under the category of subsidy.

Speaking on the occasion, economist Dr Qais Aslam said managers of the country were involved in making money out of the prevailing crisis. He said the rule of law only distinguishes a state from a jungle which also included economic justice.

He deplored that tax inefficiency is on the rise in the country. He pointed out that de-nationalization of the education sector has deprived children of poor class from quality education. He said the privatization of the education sector has resulted into brain drain.

According to him, installation of automatic machines has led to widespread retrenchment and successive governments have no plan as to how to engage the labour class.

He said the investors were investing in dollar after real estate and their children were buying international nationalities out of their hefty profits out of the dollar business.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023