LAHORE:Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) Secretary General Khurram Nawaz Gandapur has said that business community has a fundamental role to play in the economy and their facilitation and effective participation is critical to national growth and development.
He expressed these views in a meeting with Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Kashif Anwar and Executive Committee Members here at LCCI, on Tuesday.
Gandapur said that will of the authorities is the more important thing, citing that if the political will and political capital is not there, the development is not possible.
PAT Secretary General said that Pakistan receives two kinds of remittances i.e. subsistence remittances which some body sends to his family back home and the other are selective remittances which are sent by choice or for the investment purposes. “Unfortunately, we have turned those remittances towards the construction sector,” he maintained.
Khurram Nawaz Gandapur said that every government remained in a constant state of crisis. “We have the worst aircraft employee ratio in the world even though we were the best of our times,” he said and asserted that grey economy needs a stability of policies and necessary assurances without those it may not be coming into the white economy.
He stressed the need to go towards the longstanding profitable sustainable projects like building small dams in a big quantity, reducing the cost of capital for the small and medium scale, provision of raw materials on affordable rate to small manufacturers besides providing them with cheap loans.
He said that country’s education and health sectors also need drastic changes, and PAT and LCCI need to patronize each other for the promotion of IT sector which offers a great deal with minimum investment.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that Lahore Chamber has urged all the political parties to sign the Charter of Economy, while suggestions in this regard have been compiled and sent to them accordingly.
He said, the problems will not be resolved until all the political parties sign a Charter of Economy. “First think about the economy then something else and the business community should be taken on board while formulating businesses-related policies,” he suggested.
He said that the decrease in remittances is a matter of concern for which the government has to take steps to build the confidence of Pakistanis living abroad. He also stressed the need to address the disparity between the rates of the US dollar in the open market and the interbank market.
He said that political stability is very important to develop the economy, adding that government should reduce non-productive expenditure so that the burden on the exchequer is reduced.
Kashif Anwar said that trade and monetary policy should be given immediately to help develop industry and trade. He said that the loss-making State Owned Enterprises have become white elephants for the economy, and the government should take immediate steps to make them profitable or go for their privatization.
He also emphasized the need for immediate increase in tax base, besides making easy access to easy loans for the SMEs.
LCCI President said, “We have to promote alternative sources of energy and energy mix. More dams should be constructed to control floods and to generate cheap electricity.” He said that a way has to be found to control the grey economy, asserting that the country can earn valuable foreign exchange by exporting skilled labour.