Call to ban non-essential imports

KARACHI: Govt should immediately ban all imports of non-essential items for at least a year to ease import bills, an economic club said on Friday.

Proceeds that are essential and could benefit the economy at macro level should be allowed, the club said.

The group also suggested putting capital controls and pegging the rupee to the dollar in a rage bound movement at around 195-200 for next one year.

The economic club further urged for remitting export proceeds in 48-72 hours, and asked for measures to know exact agriculture production need, especially cotton.

Cotton output to be increased as for last three years on average, the country had imported raw cotton worth of $1 billion per annum, it added.

It also called for immediate measures to focus on renewable energy to curb imports of expensive LNG and furnace oil, saying that there was a need to focus on electricity generation through solar, nuclear, and wind projects.

The experts stressed that the government should accelerate the pace of construction of two more LNG plants.