Growth linked to politics-free economy

LAHORE:Politics has to be taken out of the economy in order to improve the economic situation of Pakistan. This will help a lot in solving economic problems in accordance with the people and national interests. The government’s economic team has never been able to satisfy the majority of the people.

These views were expressed by the discussants in the Jang Economic Session on “Another IMF Budget - Impact on Industry, trade and public”. The panelists were Dr Ehsan Malik, Dr Zulfiqar Ahmed, Agha Syedain, Pervaiz Hanif, Kashif Younas, and Ameen Mazhar Butt while moderated by Sikindar Lodhi.

Dr Ehsan Malik said the non-productive expenditures were the main cause of the burden on the budget and increasing the economic problems of the people. Unpopular decisions required to end it. There is an urgent need to adopt an effective and workable strategy to make the industry functional and introduce a system of efficiency for the better performance of the ministers. The recent rise in the price of oil and the reliance on the IMF for loans has raised public concerns and economic woes in the wake of the new inflationary storm, he added.

Dr Zulfiqar Ahmed said the businessmen talk practical while the economists only talk about the theories also following the IMF written policies while the parliament is playing the role of a “yes men”. The state of education is not good. There is a lot of potential in E-commerce. Many Pakistani students working at the international level in E-commerce should be encouraged. Pakistani doctors are very popular in the world. There should be no quota in the education system for students coming from abroad, rather they should come on merit and pay fees in dollars so that we can improve our education system. Japan is asking 10,000 skilled workers from Pakistan. There is need to teach our students skills.

Agha Syedain said Pakistan needs Rs28 billion annually to run the affairs while government was waiting for IMF package. He believed that Pakistan’s situation may not be like that of Sri Lanka because its economy is big. But we are going down. We have to move towards long-term policies to improve the economic situation. He said practical steps were needed to boost exports, there is also a need to reduce the trend of buying imported goods to discourage imports.

The new rulers will have to work hard to meet public expectations. The exchange rate situation is worrisome. An effective economic agenda is essential for economic stability, he added.

Pervaiz Hanif said that the current state of inflation and rising economic pressures have proved that the current economic team has neither succeeded in curbing inflation nor in satisfying the people. Controlling inflation is essential to boost exports. Unnecessary imports must be discouraged to control the economic deficit, as well as increase exports in engineering, information technology and other manufacturing sectors. The government should provide incentives to local investors as well as protect local industry and curb smuggling at all levels.

Kashif Younas said the time has come to separate the economy from politics. Therefore, the Charter of Economy is an important need of hour. If the focus is on the productive economy, the volume of exports is likely to increase. However, it is imperative to adopt the concept of Made in Pakistan by focusing on productive sectors such as agriculture, engineering and IT. If the government pays attention to the important step towards investment, i.e. confidence building, and provides special incentives to all investors, then FDI abroad can also be strengthened and the economy can be supported. The business community needs to be grouped together to maintain and streamline policies, he added. Ameen Mazhar Butt said the situation was getting difficult. Inflation is going up while incomplete budget was presented.

The prices of electricity, petrol, diesel and pulses have gone up with new government. The salaries of government employees have been increased by 10 per cent. The government should cut its royal expenditures and think for the betterment of the people and to avoid such a situation in the future.