(November-08-2023)
Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Wednesday that despite positive negotiations from the IMF and clear possibilities of getting more loans, the value of the dollar is continuously increasing.
The business community is worried because the dollar is getting expensive, while profiteers are taking full advantage of the uncertainty.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that measures to control the dollar should be tightened and the economy should be fully documented.
Speaking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the dollar had fallen to 276 rupees on October 16, after which its value started increasing. On November 3, the dollar was 285 rupees, and now it is available at 287 rupees in the market while further increases in its value are possible.
The business leader said that reasons for the increase in the value of the dollar include import financing, debt financing, the law and order situation, the export position, and the increasing interest of the public in buying dollars.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that negotiations with the IMF are underway and that the agreement made by the previous government is being implemented.
The losses in the power generation, transmission, and distribution systems are high, and all the axes of incompetence and corruption in this sector are falling on the people.
Masses will also have to pay for the infamous circular debt, which has now reached 2.6 trillion rupees, he added.
Similarly, consumers are forced to bear the burden of all the mismanagement in the gas sector, the volume of which is 800 billion rupees per year. 869 billion rupees are still being collected from the people in the name of the petroleum levy, and these measures have made the inflation sky high, he informed.
He said that the IMF wants to bring real estate, builders, landlords, wholesalers, and retailers into the tax net and reduce reliance on direct taxes. It can be done, but in this regard, our government needs to do sufficient work because the policy of solving financial issues by increasing the tax burden on the people is the main cause of inflation and poverty in the country.
Mian Zahid Hussain added that Pakistan wants to implement all the conditions of the IMF, while many conditions are being fully implemented, which has saved the country from bankruptcy, but still its global ranking has not improved.
For sustainable economic stability, fundamental but unpopular reforms are needed in various sectors.
