(April 10-2023) 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 continuous decline in the confidence of businessmen, industrialists and investors is alarming.
The business community is troubled by unending economic problems, businesses are closing down and people are losing their jobs, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that for the first time in the country’s history, the situation is rapidly deteriorating due to the simultaneous political, economic and constitutional crisis.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that street crimes are increasing and insecurity in the business community is continuously increasing which is causing the flight of capital and exodus of industries from the country.
Many business people believe that the country is not moving in the right direction and that things are getting worse instead of better which is detrimental to them, he remarked.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the business community is also worried due to the rising inflation because the majority of the country’s population is spending a large part of their income on food and their purchasing power has eroded therefore, they are unable to buy other things.
As a result, many businesses have closed down while others continue to shrink. At the same time, the value of the local currency is also continuously depreciating while the bank markup, electricity and fuel prices are continuously increasing, which has made business more difficult and worsened the situation for the people.
The business leader added that delay in the IMF loan and the early election controversy have created uncertainty and fears among the public and the business community, which is affecting their confidence.
The public and the business community have been hearing nothing but comforting statements about the IMF loan for months, adding to their anxiety.
They believe that the disputes between politicians and institutions in the country have nothing to do with the country’s development, constitution and law, but the whole effort is to achieve their own political interests, for which the integrity of the country is put at stake.
