APC demands consensus over charter of economy

ISLAMABAD: An All Parties Conference (APC) organised by the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) and National Press Club (NPC) on Tuesday asked all stakeholders to sign the Charter of Economy for steering the country out of current crisis.

Different political parties leaders participated in this APC titled “Revival of Economy” and demanded devising a uniform strategy to achieve sustainable growth without creating imbalances. Federal Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail said that Pakistan was required to pursue a four-pronged strategy to ensure the provision of education for all children, living within available means such as curtailing the budget deficit and current account deficit, focusing on exports and agriculture productivity. He warned that if the country could not make progress on these four fronts, it would lag behind other countries.

The minister said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had offered to sign of Charter of Economy when he was the opposition leader and he again repeated it when he became the prime minister. He said that other countries had made progress, so why Pakistan could not achieve the same. He said that there was a need to jack up per capita income up to $10,000. He said it was a matter of concern that Pakistan’s 50 per cent children did not go to school. 

If there are 10 children out of schools in the world, there is one Pakistani, he added. Miftah said how the country could achieve self-reliance when the trade deficit stood at $48 billion, foreign debt servicing at $21 billion at a time when the foreign exchange reserves were standing at $7.8 billion.

The budget deficit, he said, escalated to over Rs5,000 billion, so the current account deficit also jumped up with time lag. He added that the higher budget deficit also pushed up the Current Account Deficit (CAD). He said that the last PMLN led government added electricity generation by 12,000 MW, however, it did not help increase industrialisation. It was worrisome that the marriage halls were constructed instead.

The finance minister deplored that businessmen did not want to pay their taxes. How could the country run in such circumstances when no one wants to pay taxes, he added.

On this occasion, Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal said that exports-led growth holds the key to national development and the country’s production should be synchronised with international standards. The future of Pakistan is linked with increasing our exports, said the minister.

The minister said that the government will support the business community and urged the ICCI to highlight the bottlenecks and issues so that the government could resolve them without any delay. “On behalf of the prime minister, I offer the chambers to highlight the issues and I will resolve them within 15-days,” said Iqbal, who urged the business community to adopt a market-driven approach to get space in the global market. Pakistan has found its path of stability after a struggle but there are challenges as well which need to be addressed, the minister said while stressing on political stability in the country. Economic stability is linked with political stability and there is a dire need for political stability in the country, he added. “All parties may have political agenda but on the economic front we all should be united,” he added. Iqbal said that no country can progress if there is an inconsistency in policies.

Business leader Zubair Motiwalla said that politics and business should be segregated. Economic policymaking should be devised for five years. The energy mix should be changed. He said that exports could not increase without achieving an exportable surplus.

Another businessman leader Zubair Malik said he will blame all political parties who ruled over the last 75 years.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said that there was a need to shun past mistakes and everyone must look ahead.