KARACHI – Chairman of National Business Group of FPCCI, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said the decision of Prime Minister Imran Khan to boost the agriculture sector is laudable.
The business community fully supports PM’s move to remove impediments keeping the agriculture sector from development since a decade, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the falling agriculture sector has resulted in a hike in the price of pulses, sugar, flour, cotton and other items resulting in shortages and double-digit inflation which can be resolved through short and long-term policies based on ground realities.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that prospects of improved growth are bright despite pandemic and country will beat forecasts of international institutions if the central bank continued to play a positive role.
The government should resolve the GSP Plus issue employing proper diplomatic initiatives while using foreign policy properly otherwise exports can be compromised by three billion dollars, he added.
The construction sector and manufacturing is performing well despite challenges while LSM growth is on the positive side and situation will further improve as new Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin wants development amid stability.
He wants to boost exports, expand tax net, ensure price stability, reduce poverty, and cut circular debt which will result in positive developments.
The government should reduce borrowing to ensure repaid development as it will strengthen the private sector while the SBP should reduce interest rates as a two percent hike in the policy rate will burden masses and the business community and hinder new investments, he warned.
