Daily Times

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) called upon the stakeholders to make plans for developing the economy that would help financial managers evolve an aggressive policy to cope with challenges.

LCCI President Malik Tahir Javed said that Pakistan would have to be economically strong to stand tall among influential economies and to be able to handle all sorts of international pressures. He said that sharing of economic plans with stakeholders would be good for both public and private sectors. He said that Pakistan is abundant with vast resources and does not need any external financial help therefore the upcoming government should tap the resources instead of looking towards international financial institutions.

Malik Tahir Javed said that these are the economic weaknesses which give room to external powers to interfere in our internal matters. He said that highest circular debt, trade deficit, discouraging exports, high ratio of debts, rupee devaluation, water shortage and miseries of agriculture sector have led to stagnant growth in Pakistan. He said that the new government must address these issues through good economic reforms and consultation with stakeholders. He said that Pakistan has all the resources to become economic giant but only needs to set directions with zeal, courage and sincerity.

The LCCI president said Pakistan’s huge mineral resources can help get rid of the economic ills, particularly external debts which are over $90 billion, within the next five years. He said that the country has one of the largest reserves of gold, copper and coal in the world. According to a rough estimate, the value of coal reserves in Pakistan is 187 times more than the Gross Domestic Product of Pakistan and only 2 percent of Pakistani coal reserves can generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity for almost 50 years. In addition to gold, copper and coal, the country has vast reserves of precious stones, gypsum, salt and marble but instead of taking full advantage of these God-gifted resources most of the share being exported in raw form. He said that these resources must be used by the state instead of giving contracts to the foreign companies for extraction. He also called for new technologies and training of human resources for the mining sectors.

While strongly supporting the Kalabagh Dam, the LCCI president said that this mega project should not be sacrificed to the political wills as it has to play a major role in economic uplift of the country. He said that most of the public sector enterprises (PSEs) are strangling the national exchequer by eating up around Rs 600 billion annually. Wastage of this hard-earned money of the taxpayers is a sheer injustice. He said that these PSEs should be turned into profitable ones by strict reforms.

Javed said that market and product diversification is the best method to boost exports. They said that Pakistani exports always remained dependent on a few items and countries. United States, China, Afghanistan, United Kingdom and Germany are top five trading partners of Pakistan while various lucrative destinations are still untouched. He said that Pakistani missions abroad should be given task to find out new destinations for Pakistan products. Government should also facilitate export-oriented industries by resolving their genuine issues like delay in refunds etc.

LCCI Senior Vice President Khawaja Khawar Rasheed and LCCI Vice President Zeeshan Khalil said that keeping in view the fast changing global scenario and challenges for Pakistan; the upcoming government would have to ensure economic planning and its implementation in true sense of word for self-reliance and to avert any serious challenge to the national sovereignty.

Published in Daily Times, August 3^rd 2018.