Daily Times

A legislative body of the Lower House, on Thursday, approved a sub-committee to oversee discussions between the ministry of commerce and their aggrieved, State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) agents.

Commerce Secretary, Younas Dagha, briefed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and Textile regarding the strike by some SLIC bargaining agents because the government had changed the four-tier structure to three-tier. He further added that the SLIC’s continuous descending trend was noticed by its regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

After scrutinising the related matters, he noted, the four-tier structure was reduced to three-tier, whereby promoting the cadre of sales officer to sales manager. While this step involved promotion as well as a higher commission rate, the secretary said that it was unacceptable to a number of sales officers, who had started agitation, to be later joined by other employees.

The disgruntled employees had filed as many as 10 cases in different courts, which were not decided in their favour because of not being on merit, he maintained.

Dogha said that at present, most of them had forsaken the strike to resume work. However, the committee wished for a deep investigation into the matter.

The secretary claimed that some officers were involved in getting a commission through dummy agents and the government had decided to stop this wastage of public premium money. All sales officers were promoted to a higher grade with an increase in their commission from eight to 10 per cent but they were used to higher commissions through dummy agents, he added.

Not satisfied by Dogha, the committee formed a sub-committee to call the aggrieved party and the management of the SLIC together.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Division also spoke on the occasion and explained the decline in the country’s exports. It was shared that from 1991-2018, Pakistan’s exports had increased annually by 5.1 per cent whereas its regional competitors had registered a growth rate of 16 per cent. Here, it was said, the main impediments remained the higher cost of doing business, energy costs, low productivity and higher imports tariffs on inputs.

The committee was briefed on the steps taken by the current government to boost exports, which include the revision of exports enhancement package, decreasing gas tariffs for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for Punjab at par with other provinces, revising regulations for imports and exports and PM’s Export Package Schemes.

Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) also gave a comprehensive presentation encompassing its mandate, exports’ performance, major activities, challenges and new initiatives. The presentation spanned over areas including policy and planning; product development and diversification; awareness and capacity building; R&D; support services.

The officials claimed that Pakistan exports had decreased in the past many years yet increased briefly from $20.4 billion to US$32.2 billion between 2016 and 2018.

In this regard, the committee was appraised about major challenges, which included the lack of the export culture of multi-nationals, lack of export-oriented FDI in Pakistan, absence of legal cover for product innovation, informal sector, low-value addition, missing knowledge-based economy and a lack of focus on the services sector.

To meet these challenges, TDAP suggested an expansion of the trade infrastructure along with setting up expo centres at Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar. It also recommended the Look-Africa Plan in addition to an increase in the subsidy for non-traditional markets to 80 per cent, participation in international exhibitions and the establishment of an export promotion committee.

The meeting was chaired by Member National Assembly (MNA) Syed Naveed Qamar. Others present on the occasion included MNA Ali Khan Jadoon, MNA Nawab Sher, MNA Raza Nasrullah, MNA Khurram Shahzad, MNA Ahmed Hussain Deharr, MNA Mian Muhammad Shafiq, MNA Wajiha Akram, MNA Sajida Begum, MNA Mrs Farukh Khan, MNA Rana Tanveer Hussain, MNA Tahira Aurangzeb and MNA Syed Javed Ali Shah Jillani, along with senior officers of the Commerce Division, SLIC and TDAP.

Published in Daily Times, March 15^th 2019.