Lahore, January 16, 2019 (PPI-OT): President of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Almas Hyder Wednesday called for representation of private sector in policy making to ensure immediate treatment to the economic issues. In a statement, the LCCI President said that being most important stakeholder, private sector must have representation in policy making teams that will be equally beneficial for the government and private sector.
He said that business community has a great combination of fertile ideas both for businesses and economy but these cannot be decoded until and unless private sector has representation at the supreme forums. Almas Hyder said that government should make necessary legislation in this regard as health of economic indicators is not good at the moment.
He said that health of leading economic indicators including Ease of Doing Business, Manufacturing, Stock Market, Gross Domestic Product, income and expenditure, unemployment rate, Consumer Price Index, Currency Strength, availability of energy, debts, balance of trade and foreign exchange reserves is not good and needs immediate treatment as these are directly linked to the economic prosperity and also to the foreign investors’ sentiments.
“If these indicators are healthy, these would attract huge foreign direct investment, build the confidence of local investors, increase remittances and turn the country into hub of manufacturing and economic activities”, the LCCI President added. He said that manufacturing activities influences the Gross Domestic Product strongly (GDP), an increase in which boosts revenue of the state and generates employment opportunities.
He said that Industrial Production Growth Rate averaged 5.32 percent from 1990 to 2018. He said that government should facilitate manufacturing sector and resolve its major obstacles like availability of cheap energy and early refunds etc. to achieve the target of highest growth rate. Almas Hyder said that startup of new business in Pakistan is a hard task and this issue should be tackled through one-window operation to reduce the interference of various government departments in this process.
He said that Pakistan is ranked 136 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business. He said that cost of doing business is one of the major impediments hampering the growth of all sectors of economy whether it is manufacturing or agriculture. He said that Pakistani merchandise are best of the best in the world but fast losing their due place in the international market because of high input cost in Pakistan.
The LCCI President also demanded attractive incentives for the overseas Pakistanis who are playing key role in economic uplift of the country through their remittances. He said that government should take measures to ensure that these remittances are invested in productive sectors instead of wasting them to consumption or loss-making public sector enterprises.
He said that foreign remittances could easily reach $ 40 to 50 billion in the next few years if government announces incentives on the investment made by expatriate Pakistanis. He said that government should encourage the expats to invest in the sectors like energy, agriculture, telecommunication and Information Technology.
For more information, contact:
Information Department
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)
11-Shahrah-e-Aiwan-e-Tijarat,
Lahore -54000, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-222-499
Fax: +92-42-36368854
Website: http://www.lcci.com.pk/