ISLAMABAD:Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) said in a statement on Monday the business community is pinning high hopes on newly-elected President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Naser Hayat Maggo.
After years, FPCCI got a president who has a vast experience and will resolve the issues confronting traders and industrialists, said Dr Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.
He seems not to be very much interested in becoming a yes-man of the government and will not waste all the time on useless meetings and photo sessions, said Mughal. Rather, he will utilize his expertise and energies to make life a little easy for the business community by providing input to the government on critical economic issues, try to reduce the cost of doing business in a challenging environment and fully participate in the consultation about upcoming SME and other policies.
Mughal said that Naser Hayat Maggo was very concerned about the power sector which was eating up a sizable part of the GDP since long. Now the power sector circular debt has surpassed the mark of Rs4.3 trillion while the gas sector circular debt has also jumped to hundreds of billions of rupees while the authorities are tacking it by a continuously upward revision of the tariff.
This policy has increased cost of doing business, made exports costly and damaged the budget of man on the street which is a great challenge for the government while the business community is looking forward to the Apex chamber to come forward and resolve this issue.
He said that FPCCI should provide implementable recommendations to the government to improve tax structure, recover agriculture and trigger industrialization so that masses can get employment. Mughal said that Businessmen Panel won the election with a very thin margin and it may not make it in the next election if it failed to serve the business community.