KARACHI: Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Monday that the February 8 elections will bring the economy out of ICU.

He said that transparent elections will result in political stability without which economic stability is impossible. If some people tried to make the elections controversial after the voting process had finished, the economy would continue to suffer.

Speaking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the IMF, other international institutions, and the business community believe the economy is slowly improving. If there is no obstacle, the economic recovery process will be fast, which will help mitigate the suffering of people experiencing problems. If the elements trying to make the elections controversial succeed, it will result in a crisis, and the benefits of the tough measures taken so far will also be lost. The country will be back where it was in April 2022.

The business leader said that the current situation is that hopes, exports, foreign exchange reserves, and incomes of the people and the business community are increasing, which is encouraging, but unemployment and inflation are also increasing.

He said the growth rate is expected to be two percent and unemployment to be eight percent in the current financial year.

The industrial sector is facing difficulties, and the condition of agriculture could be more encouraging. This year’s budget deficit is likely to be 1.6 percent of GDP. If progress is made in increasing the volume of direct taxes, the government revenue will increase while deficit and inflation will decrease.

Mian Zahid Hussain said the country’s energy crisis has become a big threat to the people and the economy. This debt is touching Rs6 trillion. The cost of electricity and gas is continuously increasing, and now there are reports of oil becoming expensive again, worrying people.

Due to continuous inflation, people are getting poorer, but one section of society is getting richer, which is growing social division and triggering unrest and extremism. Without the country achieving long-term political and economic stability, controlling unrest and militancy will be impossible.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that Tehreek-e-Insaf should apologize for the violent incidents of May 9 and return to the national mainstream by indicating the Charter of Economy’s signing and playing its role in the country’s political stability.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024