(December 30-2022)
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 said that the government should now focus on the economy by reducing the focus on the opposition.
The economy can be brought back on track in some time and relief can be provided to the people if the IMF conditions are fully implemented, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the important issues should be dealt with quickly because the economy is weak and inflation is increasing due to the delay.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the government has few resources and many problems. Despite the lack of resources, failed government institutions are being nurtured by wasting hundreds of billions of rupees annually.
Everyone can see the outcome of involvement of provincial governments in the health and education sector, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said if wheat had been imported on time, the price of flour would not have gone up on record across the country. When private airlines in Pakistan can run in profit, why has PIA lost 635 billion rupees, he questioned.
He said that thirty-four percent of electricity is stolen and wasted during transmission and distribution, including seventeen percent of individuals and organizations who do not pay the bill but they are supplied with electricity.
The theft and losses makes electricity more expensive for the bill paying consumers and it also damages the economy.
Similarly, gas companies are also losing two hundred billion rupees annually, which need to be sold immediately.
These institutions are being run only for the sake of the jobs of four and a half lakh employees, the price of which is being paid by twenty two crore people. These entities should be sold and the income should be used to run the country.
The government should stop running ports, railways, banks, airlines, industries, transport and construction companies because it is not its business and should only play the role of regulator.
By selling the failed institutions, the government will get huge income, hundreds of billions of rupees will be saved annually, these institutions will start providing facilities to the people, which will lead to economic development and people will get employment.
