The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan has been trying to balance the country’s huge trade deficit which is narrowing. I would like to congratulate the prime minister and his economic team for success achieved so far in narrowing the trade deficit. It is encouraging to note that trade deficit for the financial year ended on June 30, 2019 narrowed to $31 billions, showing some decline from previous years. It is heartening to know that the July- August trade deficit for the current financial year has sharply shrunk to $3.1 billion which is 38 percent down on a year-on-year basis. I would like to draw the attention of Prime Minister Imran Khan and his team towards the huge cost we are incurring for picking up children from school. If you visit a private school when school is just over in the afternoon, you will see long lines of cars, some driven by drivers and some driven by the parents themselves to pick up children from schools. These days when the weather is hot and humid, it becomes a necessity to turn on the air conditioners of the cars. I have no idea how much fuel is being used throughout Pakistan and how many man hours are spent on this duty. I believe a considerable saving of fuel and man hours can be made if all the schools have good comfortable buses for children to come and go on.
I think if all schools provide comfortable and reliable transport buses for schoolchildren we can save a lot of foreign exchange now being spend on import of fuel; that way, we also reduce the country’s trade deficit. I hope Prime Minister Imran Khan and his economic team shall look into this matter and come up with practical proposals / policy to save fuel/ man hours cost for Pakistan.
Ejaz Ahmad Magoon
Lahore