Senior government officials should be well aware of the prevailing economic scenario which will help them to contribute their key role in making economic policies more realistic and productive, said President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) Chaudhry Muhammad Nawaz. He was addressing the participants of 18th senior management course of National Management College Lahore who visited FCCI here on Friday.
Addressing the participants, he said that Pakistan's economy is on the road to progress as almost all macro-economic indicators are positive. Foreign reserves are in excess of US $19.92 billion and balance of payments position looks comfortable whereas oil prices are low and overseas Pakistanis remittances are on the rise.
He also mentioned the economic challenges that should necessarily be met are that our GDP, which is growing at an average rate of 3.8% for the last 3-4 years, needs to grow at 7% to sustain its future growth. A tax structure that should be equitable, fair, non-anomalous, investment driven with more income tax payers brought into the tax net should be devised besides provision of uninterrupted supply of electricity and gas to the industries at affordable price. He said that Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) are backbone to industrial development. Faisalabad has its origin from SMEs and their problems need to be looked in the better national perspective as value added textiles are not picking up because SMEs are facing energy crisis severely.
There is no contradiction between government and business community because we both want the welfare, progress and prosperity of the people of Pakistan with main focus on neglected and deprived segments of the society, he added. He further said that water crisis can prove more fatal than the energy crisis. We have per capita water availability at 1000 cubic meters per annum which is estimated to lower down to per capita 850 cubic meters by 2025 owing to rising population and urbanisation in the country.
FCCI Chief said that construction of multi-purpose large dams on rivers and small dams on canal heads are vital to produce cheaper hydel electricity besides promoting alternative energy resources particularly solar, coal, solid waste management, wind, biogas, etc.
He said that uninterrupted and affordable energy mix should be designed in a way that cost of electricity should be lowered, affordable and competitive in price with regional countries. The government should also facilitate the private sector with easy taxation instead of complex system that has been introduced in the Federal Budget 2014-15 & 2015-16, he said, adding that entire tax machinery needs proper rationalisation for credible tax system.
Chaudhry Nawaz said that our industrial economy has been worst hit by the shortage of electricity and gas causing decline at rate of 2 percent per annum to GDP. However, our textile exports which currently are hovering around US $13 billion in the national exports, can easily be increased up to US $26 billion if uninterrupted supply of electricity and gas is made available to the textile industries, he suggested.
Chaudhry Nawaz said that the developing economies should enhance trade amongst themselves. Today 60% trade in the world is among regional blocks. Therefore we should focus on Afro-Asian trade as trends of international trade have got massive changes from the traditional export destinations of USA and Europe due to prolonged recession of their economies. He said that Pakistan with its geographical location can become regional and intra-regional trade hub for Central Asia and Middle East and even a common market can be developed amongst India, China, Turkey and other countries in the region. We should diversify our exports of traditional items to non-traditional markets and non-traditional items as agro-food, dairy products to traditional markets, he said.
He said that about 45% of our youth is in the age of 18-25 years which if harnessed with need-based vocational and technical education, could prove an asset for the country. We should utilise our demographic assets by allocating 80% of education budget to technical and vocational education to create a 'Skill Pakistan', he suggested.
Earlier Tariq Najeeb Najmi Director Staff, National Management College, Lahore introduced the participants of 18th senior management course and said that their visit to FCCI will help them to fully understand the view point of the business community about the prevailing economic situation in the country. "It will help them in decision making particularly in issues related to the economy", he added.
Former vice president Chaudhry Muhammad Asghar gave a presentation on FCCI activities while senior vice president Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain, Rana Sikandar-e-Azam and participants of the senior management course raised various questions. Amar Aziz Additional Director General Faisalabad Development Authority Presented FCCI shield to Tariq Najeeb Najmi. Similarly Najmi also handed over a shield of the National Management College to Chaudhry Muhammad Nawaz President FCCI. Later Jamil Ahmed Vice President FCCI thanked the participants of the meeting.