(November 04-2022)
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 Friday said the people and the business community have high hopes for Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his silence has been increasing the anxiety of the business community.
The drastic decline in consumption of petrol and diesel is the result of economic slowdown which also indicates challenges faced by the economy, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that in the first four months of this fiscal, the demand for petrol has decreased by 18% and the demand for diesel has decreased by 26%. The demand for furnace oil has also decreased by 26% as it is becoming expensive to generate electricity with furnace oil.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the situation is also having an impact on many sectors. The demand and production of motorcycles and cars have dropped significantly.
Despite the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar, some car and motorcycle manufacturers are increasing the prices of their products which is beyond comprehension.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that investments are not being made in the country, instead of foreign aid, more emphasis is placed on promises. In such situations, the importance of money sent by Pakistanis living abroad increases.
Expats support our weak economy with their hard-earned money. Due to the global and domestic situation, remittances are also decreasing now, which should be noted.
In the first ten months of 2022, remittances fell by 3.6 percent. It was generally believed that remittances would increase after leaving FATF’s gray list, but this did not happen.
It is also not clear whether overseas Pakistanis have actually reduced remittances or some of them are sending money through hundi which is not only cheap but also efficient as compared to banks.
