Skilled manpower: Labour export proposed to bridge trade gap

This way Pakistan will be able to avoid IMF dictates, says businessman

FAISALABAD: The export of skilled manpower could not only bridge the import-export gap, but would also help increase the inflow of remittances from $20 billion to $40 billion, suggested a business leader.

By focusing on that area, Pakistan would also be able to avoid dictates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of a bailout programme. “However, in this connection, harmony is imperative between the government and public and private-sector departments,” emphasised Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (FCCI) former vice president Ahmed Hassan on Tuesday.

Speaking at an awareness session organised by the Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF), Hassan pointed out that Pakistan was fetching around $24 billion from exports while around $20 billion were being sent by expatriate Pakistanis in the form of remittances.

However, he lamented that the country’s import bill amounted to around $60 billion and it was growing at a rapid pace. “We have to take necessary remedial measures to enhance exports and trim imports through viable policy interventions,” he stressed.

Calling the youth a precious asset, Hassan said Pakistan must utilise it with proper market-driven skills in order to export them to different potential markets around the world.

“Pakistani skilled manpower is in huge demand in the US, Europe and Gulf states,” he said. “We should concentrate on the European countries where the birth rate has been negative for the past many years.”

He suggested that a special syllabus should be designed to impart knowledge about different countries so that the skilled manpower could be absorbed easily in specific societies.

He underlined the need for the private sector to play its role and train labour for sector-specific needs. The youth should be equipped with hi-tech skills so that they could be easily absorbed in different countries in addition to catering to immediate needs of CPEC-related projects.

Appreciating Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision, FCCI Acting President Mian Tanveer Ahmed said the government as well as the business community had identical views on the revival of national economy and they would have to work together to steer Pakistan out of the economic crisis.

He welcomed the subsidy of Rs44 billion for gas supply to five export-oriented sectors at uniform tariffs and hoped that it would reduce the production cost and give a boost to national exports.

“A positive response from the business community to water and other important issues is highly appreciable and hopefully we will settle these issues very soon with active support from our patriotic businessmen,” declared Prime Minister Imran Khan on an earlier visit to Faisalabad.

The premier said ill-conceived policies of previous governments coupled with politicisation of administrative and government institutions posed a serious threat to the national economy. However, he remained optimistic that the PTI government would be able to address these issues in active collaboration with the business community.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2018.

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