KARACHI -Secretary General of United Business Group (UBG) and former President of FPCCI, Zubair Tufail has said that food inflation is very high at the moment. Govt must give incentives to farmers to increase production of wheat, cotton, sugar cane reduce price of fertilizers urea & DAP like in India.
He said that the conditions of the country’s economy are not very good but some sectors of the economy such as cement, steel, construction, autos, Pharma,IT etc. are performing well, the exchange rate has been good in the last 8 weeks and the rupee was strengthening but the rupee has been weakening again since the fall of the day as the dollar fell from 165 to 153 rupees. It has come to Rs 155 again but the weakness of the dollar as a whole is better for our country, he added.
He said that the IMF agreement may force the government to increase electricity and gas prices this year and emphasized that the government has to control it in the national interest.
Commenting on the country’s economic situation, Zubair Tufail said the country is once again moving towards the import of consumer goods, even basic food items such as wheat, sugar, pulses are being imported in large quantities, due to poor agricultural policies. Increasing import bill due to bad agriculture policies.
He said industries are suffering due to high energy cost of gas & electricity and becoming in competitive. Besides Textiles, export are declining and increasing joblessness.
He noted that for last many years, export is stagnant below $25B, perhaps this June, 21 cross $25B. But against imports of $50B, $25 is very low. Thanks to overseas Pakistanis who will remit this year more than $26-27B till June, 21.
He pointed out that exports of other countries like Bangladesh, Turkey, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia are rising sharply.
Zubair Tufail added that foreign remittances are increasing month by month in 2021 and remittances are crossing 26 billion to 27 billion.
There has been some reduction and most importantly SBP policies and the dollar rate, SBP policies have been very good over the last 8 months, interest rates have been stable at around 7% and support for the coveted economy. Do
He said 2021 has brought many challenges for the country such as high food inflation, coved 19, rising import and export statistics, rising energy prices, unemployment, etc.
He said that 4 changing of finance ministers in 30 months indicated weaknesses in the economic sector. He said that Pakistan should increase its exports to 30 billion dollars in the next two years.
He said that the ever-rising prices of electricity and gas have to be controlled and reduced.
He said government resources are not enough to meet expenses, it will be a deficit budget again. Tax Collection is not increasing as required. Only CAD is under control or in surplus for last few months.
