LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry has urged the government for appointment of a permanent Finance Minister for the sake of trade, industry and economy.
In a statement, the LCCI Acting President Khawaja Khawar Rasheed and Vice President Zeshan Khalil said that the portfolio of Finance Minister came under the Prime Minister’s control as per cabinet rules. They said that role of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as Prime Minister of Pakistan is of utmost importance. An extra burden of Finance Ministry would divide his focus that is not good for the national interests. They said that business community is facing various problems including delay in refunds, misuse of discretionary powers by the FBR officials, accounts attachment, high cost of doing business. Prime Minister must have a full time Finance Minister who can handle these issues.
They said that the country is witnessing an unstable economic situation. They said that business community understands well that there is no overnight solution of the economic problems but there is a dire need to set directions and to introduce economic reforms in the favor of trade and industry.
The LCCI office-bearers said that government holds the responsibility to deliver. They said that country needs to stop borrowing a few breaths in the form of funding from the international donor agencies or our debt repayments just so we can go for a few more steps yet not look for the cure for what we are plagued with.
“We must define our objectives clearly and prepare for ourselves realistic long-term strategic plans to meet these objectives. The plan must be linked to the population growth for us to deduce how much the food we require, the land needed to produce it, the schools needed to educate them, the jobs required to be created, their transportation and communication needs, hospitals to be built and so on”, they added
They hoped that keeping in view these ground realities, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi would appoint a full time Finance Minister at the earliest.
