Economy headed towards point of no return, warn businessmen

LCCI says rupee’s weakness adding to the country’s economic woes

LAHORE: Pakistan’s economy is slowing heading towards a point of no return due to interference of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in economic matters, therefore, people at the helm of affairs must revisit the country’s policies, said the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) while painting a picture of difficult days ahead.

“I have identified 25 sectors that can help overcome the trade deficit,” LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid said in a statement.

He decried that the industry was the main victim of the deepening economic crisis whereas rupee depreciation was adding to economic miseries of the country.



“All these ills were just because of the IMF’s interference in Pakistan’s economic matters and dictations to the policymakers to take harsh measures,” he said.

The LCCI chief pointed out that Pakistan governments often depended on borrowing from the IMF and in return accepted stringent conditions, adding the global lender always forced Pakistan to adopt bad policies like rupee depreciation and massive increases in electricity and gas tariffs.

“How a country can take independent decisions and its economy can grow when it is carrying a debt burden of over $85 billion and utilising a huge part of the federal budget on debt servicing,” he asked.

Though it was difficult to get rid of the massive loans, it was not impossible, he emphasised. “If Turkey can do it, then why we cannot,” he remarked.

CREATIVE COMMONS

Javaid, along with other office-bearers including Senior Vice President Khawaja Khawar Rashid and Vice President Zeshan Khalil, underscored the need for appointing a permanent finance minister.

At present, the portfolio of finance minister is under the prime minister’s control as per cabinet rules.

They clarified that the business community knew that there was no overnight solution to the economic woes, but there was a dire need to set direction and introduce economic reforms in favour of the trade and industry.

Pakistan faced various economic challenges last year including a decline in exports and foreign direct investment, lowest tax-to-gross domestic product ratio and inefficiency of public sector enterprises.

These challenges could be addressed through meaningful partnership and dialogue between the government and private sector, they suggested.



Saying that there were a number of issues that must be tackled head-on, they pointed out that the biggest one was how to keep the growth momentum going following less-than-targeted expansion of the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. The second big challenge is the widening gap between exports and imports that could be bridged by enhancing shipments to overseas markets.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2017.

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