(Jan-08-2024)
Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Monday that some economic sectors will be hit as the world GDP declines.
Policymakers should take action to tackle the situation, with a special focus on rising debt, inflation, and the value of the rupee, he said.
The economy should be headed in the right direction, and development barriers should be taken down to improve the situation, he added.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the global GDP will shrink this year, while there will be a slight improvement in Pakistan’s GDP.
Inflation, the rupee, and rising debt need to be given special attention this year, while the growth rate is likely to improve further if energy prices and political tensions ease.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that many international organisations believe that Pakistan’s growth rate will be 2 percent this year, while India’s GDP is likely to be 6.2 percent. Pakistan’s GDP may increase from 2% to 2.4% in 2025.
In the opinion of international organisations, the food security situation in Pakistan may be more disturbed this year, which should be taken seriously, he underlined.
The business leader said that global GDP will fall to 2.4 percent this year from last year’s 2.7 percent. Reasons for a decline in global GDP include high interest rates, political conflicts, reduced trade, and the possibility of natural disasters.
A decrease in global GDP will also create problems for Pakistan as it will reduce the demand for our products, he said, adding that the economic crisis has caused a lot of pain to the people, so policymakers should correct the direction of the economy during the current crisis like other countries and solve all the problems that are damaging the economy.
Mian Zahid Hussain added that in 1960, the per capita income of West Pakistan was 32 percent higher than the per capita income of East Pakistan. This gap had increased to 81 percent by 1970.
When Bangladesh was formed, Pakistan was performing better than neighbouring countries in every field, but now its condition has become worse.
Now we can’t even imagine development like Bangladesh, which started its journey with a negative 13% growth rate. Currently, the size of our economy is 340 billion dollars, and the size of Bangladesh’s economy is 454 billion dollars.
The economy of Bangladesh and other regional countries is expanding rapidly, but our economy is shrinking. Mian Zahid Hussain further said that the condition of Afghanistan’s currency, which has been devastated by continuous war for decades, is much better than Pakistan’s currency.
If our rulers, political leaders, and people do not change their attitude, the time is not far when Afghanistan will also leave Pakistan far behind in economic and social matters.
