(April 12-2023)
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 the unending struggle of politicians has engulfed the entire country.
Not a single important institution has been spared from this conflict which is bringing the country down, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the whole country had become a battlefield and we have become a laughing stock in the comity of nations.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that in these circumstances, the agenda of economic reforms in the country had been put on the back burner and it has become impossible to improve the conditions and run the economy.
According to the IMF, Pakistan’s growth rate is expected to be only half percent this year and if the political conflict continues, the problems of the people will increase further, and unemployment and inflation will touch new heights, he said.
The business leader said that along with the political war for early elections in Punjab and KP, a legal war has also started between the government, the opposition and the judiciary, which has disturbed the people and has scared the business community.
The tendency to settle political issues in an apolitical manner has widened the gulf between key officials and key institutions, further weakening democracy and jeopardizing the credibility of the entire system.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that in these circumstances, the people are constantly getting the message that some politicians want to bankrupt the country and that their disputes are only for power.
Some failed politicians care more about their own interests than the problems of the country and masses and they have put the integrity of the country at stake.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that inflation is increasing continuously. Crisis after crisis is frustrating the masses and the cost of food, beverages and transportation has increased by forty-five percent, while the entire country is affected by a ban on imports.
People’s purchasing power has eroded, due to which 89 percent of people have stopped eating and drinking outside the home because of which the hotels restaurants and fast food businesses are collapsing.
Many small businesses are unable to pay their employees’ salaries, their electricity and gas bills and rents, and their employees are losing their jobs.
Hotels, restaurants and most fast food brands use a lot of imported ingredients in their products, which are not available due to the import ban while increased sales tax is also damaging this sector.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that on the one hand, the price of electricity and gas and taxes are increasing, on the other hand, the value of the rupee is decreasing on a daily basis, which is affecting the entire country.
