Businessmen welcome export policy

LAHORE: The business community has expressed optimism that the government would announce a package to bring down the trade deficit appreciably and welcomed the approval of the new three-year export policy by the prime minister, a statement said on Monday.

Malik Tahir Javaid, Punjab Chairman of Workers-Employers Bilateral Council of Pakistan (WEBCOP), said that the decrease in exports would not only deprive the national exchequer of the much-needed foreign exchange, but would also adversely affect the entire exporting sector.

Other regional countries are facilitating their respective manufacturing sectors in every possible way; therefore, the government should also initiate consultation with the private sector to overcome their issues, he said.

Javaid said that there is a dire need to review the import list to bring it down to cope with the fast widening trade deficit, as if immediate measures are not taken, it would nullify the impact of high remittances and sharp cut in oil prices in the international market.

The WEBCOP provincial chief said that the recently signed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project would be completed in three year’s time and would not meet Pak-Iran gas pipeline project.

He said that the government should also share the reasons of stopping work on multibillion dollars gas pipeline project.

He suggested the government to announce incentives to increase the exports of other sectors, including engineering and halal products that have a huge potential across the world.