LAHORE: Punjab Governor Ch Muhammad Sarwar has said that economy cannot run around with high markup rate and expensive energy.
The Governor expressed these view while addressing a grand reception hosted by the Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front in honour of Mian Anjum Nisar for being elected as Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) president the other day.
He said that things are now moving towards right direction and now Pakistan is looking forward to promote exports besides protecting domestic industry and trade. He said that the government would bring about economic revolution in the country. He said that duty-free access to Pakistani products to the Chinese markets under second phase of FTA was a conspicuous achievement of the government on economic front. He was of the view that market and products diversification is the best method to boost exports.
The governor said that international financial institutions have hailed the policies of the PTI government, as Pakistan is getting economically stronger with every passing day. He said the government is pursuing the agenda of promoting exports and facilitating export-oriented industries by resolving their genuine issues. Newly-elected President Mian Anjum Nisar has pledged to work in close coordination with the government to resolve all issues of the business community for growth and uplift.
“Industry doesn’t want any help or relief from the government rather we want level-playing field for the competition with China and India where markup rate is four percent and five percent against Pakistan’s interest rate of 13.25 percent while power tariff is around eight cents/kWh as compared to Pakistan’s electricity tariff of 15 cents/kWh.”
He suggested the government to enhance collaboration with the private sector with a view to improving country’s Doing Business ranking, besides proposing necessary steps to improve the country’s fiscal and monetary performance by taking all stakeholders onboard. The FPCCI president discussed in detail the economic outlook of Pakistan and plan of activities for the year 2020. He highlighted the problems faced by business community including delay in refunds, halting economic activities to a great extent. He said good working environment will enhance the capacity of our industry enabling them to compete internationally.
Now FPCCI’s major stress will be on R&D, conducting study of backward areas, particularly of Balochistan along with the academia and share it with the government for strong policy making, he added.
The PIAF dinner reception was also addressed and participated by Punjab Governor Ch Sarwar, Punjab Assembly Speaker Ch Pervaiz Elahi, Minister for Trade and Commerce and Industry Mian Aslam Iqbal, PIAF Chairman Mian Nauman Kabir, senior vice chairman Nasir Hameed, vice chairman Javed Iqbal, LCCI president Irfan Iqbal Sheikh and a large number of business community from all provinces of the country.
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