KARACHI: By setting up our priorities we have to overcome the prevailing most daunting national economic challenges of the time, actually and most importantly is the removal of the spiral of food inflation having devastating effect on the pockets of a common man where his abilities for purchasing parity and to afford the cost of eatable like grocery, vegetable, fruit, meat, pulses, oil, dairy products, etc has exhausted and vanished, said Ateeq ur Rehman (economic & financial analyst).

Raise in POL, gas, electricity tariffs are not only increasing the financial burden of household but also of all type of industry. Cost of doing business and cost of production is rising on daily basis. Capacity building as a whole has been damaged, extensively.

This is in fact is another big challenge ultimately which is becoming a source of ballooning the inflation. Utility tariffs needs reduction on yesterday basis.

We have “Loss Making Public Entities” swallowing billions of either national revenue or borrowing with heavy interest rate annually, is a great challenge.

This is so pathetic and so sad. A poor nation like us has been continuing to nourish them. Privatization of them is inevitable and eminent to convert them from loss making to profit making, said Ateeq.

“Growing import is again a big challenge; it has not only created a huge gap in trade deficit but also enhanced the balance of payment crisis. We have to encourage and promote our import substitution industry which has been greatly dejected and discouraged by prevailing policies and lack of incentives by authorities,” he said

He further said, “Higher utility prices, poor infrastructure, heavy transportation cost and absence of one window operation have discouraged immensely the good growth of such necessary Industry. Most importantly we have to promote “Made in Pakistan” by establishing tax free economic and industrial zones and producing local raw material in nearest future.”

He added that the development of corporate farming, transfer of technology, explorations and mining, strong trade relations and exploring new trade markets specially with far East Asian countries including china will help meeting the great economic challenges, too.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024