(April 13, 2022)
Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s determination to rebuild the economy and country is highly laudable.
PM’s decision to turn his famous Punjab Speed into Pakistan Speed is a very welcome step, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that PM’s decisions have boosted the morale of the people and the business community which was under pressure for four years.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the Prime Minister wants to make Pakistan an investor’s paradise to increase employment opportunities for which the business community will extend all possible cooperation to him.
Talking to the business community, Mian Zahid Hussain said that the Prime Minister would improve relations with the United States, Europe, China, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey.
The announcement of improving relations with India is also heartening as development becomes difficult in the presence of tensions.
No country can stand on its own two feet with tensions on the border, he said, adding that the first priority of the Prime Minister should be to revive the IMF program so that the rupee can stabilize which is necessary to reduce inflation in the country.
He said that due to inflation, at least six million people have been left unemployed and 20 million have been pushed below the poverty line in the last regime and their rehabilitation should also be given priority.
After the resumption of the IMF program, it is necessary to reduce expenditure and increase revenue, while work on CPEC should be started at a faster pace to increase GDP, to which the Prime Minister is committed.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that the Prime Minister should announce the cabinet as soon as possible and the most qualified people should be given the ministry of finance and energy as the future of the country is in the hands of these two ministries.
The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum should be kept under one person so that matters can move forward smoothly and ministers should not get involved in disputes between important ministries like the previous government.
The fiscal deficit, which was estimated at Rs3420 billion, is approaching Rs5550 billion which is causing worries.
Pakistan has the weakest economy in the region after Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has officially gone bankrupt and if the previous government was allowed to work for a few more months Pakistan would have officially gone bankrupt, he said.
