LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Tuesday stressed need for creating maximum job opportunities to overcome the issues of brain drain and unemployment.
LCCI Acting President Khawaja Khawar Rashid and Vice President Zeshan Khalil stated here that Pakistan could achieve this target through industrial expansion, improvement in ranking of ease in doing business and public-private partnership. Ease of Doing Business in Pakistan averaged 112.78 from 2008 until 2016, reaching an all time high of 148 in 2015 and a record low of 85 in 2009, they mentioned.
LCCI office-bearers said that cost of doing business was hindering the growth of all sectors of economy whether it was manufacturing or agriculture. They said that Pakistani merchandise were best of the best in the world but fast losing their due place in the international market because of high input cost.
They said that country faced various economic challenges in last year including decline in exports and foreign direct investment, lowest tax-to-GDP ratio and low performance of public sector entities but these challenges could be coped through meaningful partnership and dialogues between the government and the private sector.
They said the government would also have to focus on agriculture, manufacturing sector, education, water, human resources, minerals, public health, tax collection system and end of corruption should be focused to get rid of economic worries.
Lahore Chamber’s office-bearers said that agriculture was the largest sector of Pakistan as around 43 percent labour was dependent upon agriculture, and this largest sector needed revolutionary reforms on war footing, as growth of agriculture sector would not only ensure food security and provision of raw material to the larges export-oriented industry textile but also generate huge revenue for the government and vast employment opportunities.
They said that country’s population was growing at the rate of 2.10 percent every year and if this growth continued for next two decades, population would cross the mark of 240 million. Pakistan needed to increase the yield per acre on steady pace therefore government should plan to bring about nine million hectors of fertile land under cultivation which was remained useless just because of shortage of water.
They also stressed the need for developing regional, product-specific and target-oriented marketing strategy, while new markets and products needed to be explored to reduce country’s dependence on a few commodities and countries because Pakistan’s exports were concentrated in few items. They also called for revival of Engineering Development Board (EBD) and other public sector enterprises.
