Former President SAARC Chambers of Commerce and Industry Iftikhar Ali Malik Friday termed the federal budget 2023-24 in the prevailing scenario balanced, growth- and export-oriented with a basket of attractive package of incentives to accelerate the economic activities across the country. Sharing his viewpoint on the federal budget with the media here, he hailed the historic reforms for ease of doing business. He said that the remarkable measures announced in the budget would help set a proper direction of the national economy to flourish in the days to come as well as ameliorate the lot of poor segments of society. He said economic indicators would show an upward trend and the GDP growth would improve significantly with better remittances. He added that its established phenomenon that survival of a state mainly rested on sound economy. Malik hoped that Pakistan would progress in every sphere of life following the prudent economic policies. Appreciating the wise decisions of the government for economic revival, he said, these would ultimately provide solace to businesses community, while a cushion of packages would help accelerate the economic activities in the country and boost exports. Iftikhar Malik said that Pakistan’s economy was going through a challenging phase due to global warming and Russia-Ukraine conflict, adding that manufacturers, traders, retailers, importers,exporters and other business community were in distress and facing huge financial losses due to the current political upheaval. He observed that government took extraordinary bold decisions to overcome this crisis. Iftikhar Ali Malik hoped that all irritants in the budget would be removed to the satisfaction of business community which was the source of financial strength of the government.