Businessmen seek unity to tackle crisis

Call on all govt organs to jointly draw up charter of economy

KARACHI:

The business community has called on all governmental organs including the judiciary and mainstream political parties to unite on a single platform and draw up a charter of economy to pull the country out of the current crisis.

“All economic indicators have deteriorated,” remarked Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), while speaking at the National Consultative Conference of Chambers and Associations.

The conference was organised to draft a national economic plan and agenda for the charter of economy.

The heads of different trade associations suggested that the apex trade body should plan an all-inclusive engagement drive by taking on board politicians, establishment and judiciary to create awareness and work together.

“GDP growth is expected to drop to 3.5% in FY23 from the earlier projection of 6%,” Sheikh said, adding that the manufacturing index had contracted 30% since March 2022 while the foreign exchange reserves were insufficient to cover even one month of imports.

In the meantime, the national poverty rate has jumped from 4.5% to 7%. “Not a single indicator is positive, therefore, it is essential to harmonise economy and politics,” he emphasised.

“Pakistan’s policy rate is the highest among its peers. It is 16% in comparison with China’s 2.8%, India’s 6.3% and Bangladesh’s 5.8%,” pointed out FPCCI’s Policy Advisory Board head Dr Usama Ehsan Khan.

“An analysis of the export trend indicates that little effort has been made by the governments to ramp up exports. Since 2010, exports have moved in the range of $20 billion to $23 billion,” said Khan.

Fiscal year 2020-21 was an exception when exports picked up some pace and reached $25.3 billion but it came with a huge trade deficit.

“The charter of economy has been a long-standing demand of Pakistan’s business community,” the FPCCI president said while proposing an economic agenda featuring energy security, public finance management, monetary policy, foreign exchange management, trade and investment, national food security and agricultural sector sustainability.

The energy security is aimed at achieving 90% self-sufficiency in energy production and strict enforcement of the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Policy.

Businessmen urged the government to implement the policy to save $1.5-2.7 billion in fuel consumption annually by encouraging work from home and regulating market hours.

It should also strictly avoid politically motivated expenditures such as untargeted subsidies, discriminatory tax concessions and unjustified appointments, they stressed.

Besides, they underlined the need for improving public expenditure management through pension reforms, restructuring the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and minimising subsidies.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2023.

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