KARACHI – President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said the economy and the masses are feeling the pain of new economic and monetary policies.
The economic activities are nose-diving while the condition of the industrial sector is worrisome which should be noticed as this sector is very important for exports, revenue, and employment, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that sluggish economic activities have resulted in deferred industrial expansion plans which is not good for the economy.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the industrial sector was never given due importance which deprived it of a sustainable base.
The former minister noted that the industrial sub-sectors deemed important for the economy are bring closed while many are cutting production. Cement sector has reduced production to 30 percent, the auto sector is in a shamble, the steel sector is crumbling under tax measures and smuggling, while the ceramics and textile sector is also not doing well.
The different industrial sectors that use to compete over energy and now trying to survive which has left power production in surplus pushing power plants cut production which some have been simply closed, he added.
He informed that power plus is in surplus by 9000 megawatts, private sector lending is drying, banks are facing increased defaults to the tune of Rs150 billion.
He said that economic managers should stop praising themselves and review their policies after consultation with local experts and the private sector so that the party which promised provision of ten million jobs can fulfill its promise.
