Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said the irreversible loss is expected if the economy was not preferred over politics as time is running out for us.
We cannot afford the luxury of wastage of resources as a weak economy can never guarantee strong defense, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that Pakistan’s problems and enemies have increased due to cooperation with China as it has improved power generation and communications, but invited the wrath of the US, western nations, and their institutions like IMF, World Bank, FATF, etc.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that Pakistan’s 80 percent exports are destined to the west, therefore a balanced policy will be beneficial.
Pakistan could no longer afford corruption, tax evasion, and patronage of the mafia. If political, bureaucratic, and private sector corruption and extortion continue the country will suffer irreparable damage if the political elite, bureaucracy, and private sector continued corruption and extortion remains the order of the day.
He noted that currently dozens of countries are out to destroy Pakistan of which only one has an economy almost ten times in volume and more than double annual GDP growth.
That hostile nation’s GDP is close to two trillion dollars while the GDP of Pakistan is almost 213 billion dollars and it is shrinking.
Pakistan’s GDP and other indicators are steadily declining while the economy of the neighboring country is projected to grow forty times more than ours by 2050 which will be beyond our control to deal with.
A country with such a large economy will open its coffers for the destruction of Pakistan which will lead to our internal instability, he feared.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that even now the whole world is giving preference to the neighboring country except for one or two countries as the majority do not care about our problems.
If our degradation and their development remained the same, then no one in the world community would like to talk to us. Due to Pakistan’s continuous decline in the economic field and repeated requests for loans, friendly countries are now turning a blind eye, while the tone and conditions of international institutions are also becoming stricter.
What we need are real reforms and merit so that the economy can prosper and the masses can get some relief, he said.
