Traders seek govt support

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) on Saturday suggested to the government to facilitate exporters to explore new markets to overcome widening import-export gap.

Mian Tariq Misbah, president LCCI, said the second month of the current financial year has witnessed a massive rise of 133 percent increase in trade deficit driven largely by increase in the imports compared to exports.

He said the government should take concrete measures to jack-up the exports to overcome the trade deficit. Misbah said Pakistan’s most favorite export markets have been Europe, North America and Gulf States.

The LCCI president suggested that the concerned government quarters should join heads with the private sector to find out a methodology for increasing the exports of the country that is imperative to control the trade deficit. "To give relief to the export-oriented sectors, major issues like huge delay in release of refunds, high input cost and large number of duties and taxes should be resolved on priority."