(March 15-2023)
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 some politicians during their government and especially before the election waste resources in the name of development projects.
Some politicians are in habit of wasting resources for the sake of popularity and this practice should be stopped, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that efforts to show artificial growth result in a crisis and the people have to suffer year after year.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the country needs an active mechanism to curb unnecessary expenditure for the sake of popularity.
Spending is increasing at a time when domestic production, exports, and remittances are not increasing, he observed.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the previous rulers, despite warnings from economists and international organizations, made huge expenditures and freed imports to give a false impression of the development.
Imports of $80 billion were made against a total income of $60 billion, as a result of which Pakistan had to face a current account deficit of $20 billion, foreign exchange reserves fell and people had to face austerity.
Due to the shortage of foreign exchange, the government has stopped imports which have led to severe shortages of commodities and smugglers started earning handsome money.
The business leader said that there is a need to learn from past mistakes and spend according to the resources.
He said that unless there is an end to the electricity losses, gas theft, and pumping billions on the failed government institutions, a reduction in imports through import substitution, and an increase in exports, Pakistan will face a payment crisis, and public welfare will be left behind.
He noted that capital, as well as black money, have been directed towards non-productive sectors due to which there is no investment in the industry which is the main reason for the current dismal situation of production, exports, productivity, and unemployment in the country.
In Pakistan, tax collection is short by four thousand billion rupees as compared to the international standard, which is one of the reasons for inflation.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that now the importance of Pakistan has decreased for the western world due to which the possibilities of debt relief have ended while friendly countries are also tired of giving continuous aid.
A large part of the debt is Chinese debt, which does not like to restructure the debt of developing countries, so we have to learn to live within our means, he said.
