KARACHI Patron-in-Chief of United Business Group (UBG) S. M. Muneer and Secretary-General Zubair Tufail have said that gas and electricity crises have severely affected industrial production, and if the supply of electricity and gas to the industry is disrupted, there will be a flood of unemployment, and exporters will not be able to fulfill their orders.
They urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to pay attention to these issues and solve the problems of the industrial sector immediately.
They were of the view that the government needed to take further steps to improve business conditions and exports affected by the coronavirus.
S. M. Muneer and Zubair Tufail welcomed the announcement by the central bank that the economic situation was improving. However, they said that the risk of inflation needed to be addressed as well.
The UBG leaders, while commenting on the new monetary policy of the State Bank of Pakistan, said that the destruction caused by the rains had severely damaged standing crops due to which rise in commodity prices had led to inflation.
Inflation was expected to rise to 9 percent, they said.
They said that the industry was registering a modest improvement, but the problems faced by the industry should not be an obstacle to that improvement.
The government should take appropriate measures to maintain supply of gas, electricity and water to the industrial sector.
They said that the business community was well aware of the fact that the team of Prime Minister Imran Khan had been striving to improve the economic condition of the country.
They said that government’s measures had resulted in increased remittances, foreign exchange reserves and cash flow.
The bank received $2.2 billion a month in remittances from overseas Pakistanis, and the country’s total foreign exchange reserves had exceeded $19.90 billion.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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