Islamabad, September 01, 2021 (PPI-OT):The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Wednesday said investors’ confidence is at the highest level during the last three years which is a welcome development. The confidence of the business community across Pakistan in shifting from negative territory therefore the process of reforms and positive policies should continue to further boost the confidence of the investors, it said. Confidence is improving but imports are also increasing since December 2020 which is alarming, said Dr Murtaza Mughal, President PEW.
He said that gap between imports and exports is increasing pushing the trade deficit up and local currency down which will soon result in another wave of inflation as erosion of one paisa in value of rupee against the US dollar adds one hundred and twenty crore rupees to the loans. Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that increasing expenses, enlarged import bill, and unsatisfactory revenue situation will increase budget deficit which should be controlled.
He noted that former government increased GDP to 5.8 percent by increasing imports, activity in the real estate sector, trade promotion, and mega projects which was rightly criticized by the incumbent government but now the same mistakes are being repeated. Former government added Rs14.9 trillion to the public debt but the current government has added Rs14 trillion to the public debt in three years which is a record.
Increased borrowing by the current administration will make the country weak and open to enhanced interference by the international institutions, he warned. He said that SMEs play an important role in national development but banks are not cooperating with this important sector. The central bank should take action against the banks which are ignoring SMEs and focusing only on the big businesses.
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President
Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW)
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