April 12, 2017
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said imports and trade deficit has crossed all the limits pushing country at the brink of economic collapse.
Government should take steps to control imports and boost exports otherwise country will face very serious repercussions, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that government should take up the matter with Chinese authorities if import of machinery for CPEC is the reason behind unabated imports which has emerged as a serious threat.
He said that government has announced two packages for exporters but the exports continue to fall because root causes and reservation of the external sector were not addressed in a proper manner.
Country broke all previous records when it imported goods worth five billion dollar in the month of March which pushed the overall trade deficit for the first nine months of the current fiscal to 23.38 billion dollars, he added.
The business leader said that government had fixed the annual deficit target at 20.5 billion dollars but the deficit for the nine months has hit mark of 23.38 billion dollars which is 38.8 percent more than the last year’s deficit which has raised concerns among the stakeholders.
He said that remittances have remained fourteen billion dollars in first nine months which indicate a fall of three percent. Government has increased taxes by 1.2 trillion rupees but the situation seems out of control for which immediate steps must be taken, he demanded.
