PIAF chairman said PM Nawaz Sharif, FM Ishaq Dar and Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif should rescue economy
LAHORE: The Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (PIAF) has expressed grave concern on 10 percent decline in exports in first quarter of the financial year and sought the help of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to reverse this phenomenon.
While addressing a delegation of Manufacturers of Lahore Township Industrial area, PIAF Chairman Malik Tahir Javaid showed his concerns over the export cut. The delegation was headed by PIAF Vice Chairman Amjad Ali.
Tahir said that the decrease in exports was an eye-opener for all the government institutions, responsible to take care of the economic boundaries of the country. The PIAF chairman said that the private sector believed that the shortage of electricity and gas was a major cause of the export cuts.
“It is fact that there is a shortage of gas in the country, but a strategy can easily be devised to accommodate all the sectors who generate much-needed revenue for the government to run its affairs.”
He feared that further reduction in the gas supply in coming months would badly affect the exporting sector therefore it would be wiser on the part of the government to reset its priorities as far as supply to the industry was concerned.
The PIAF chairman said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would have to look into the situation to rescue the economy.
He said that issuance of SROs without the consultation of stakeholders was hitting the businesses hard therefore FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa should review the working of this very important institution.
The PIAF chairman said that the government would have to put an end to the SRO culture in the country as it had caused irreparable losses to a number of sectors in the past.
Tahir said that the private sector praised the government for handing the reins of the Trade development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to the private sector. The PIAF chairman hoped that the TDAP would start giving positive results towards the economic well-being of the country.
