2021 to begin new era of progress, prosperity in country: LCCI

LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) office-bearers Thursday hoped that the year 2021 would begin a new era of progress and prosperity in the country and the government would achieve the economic targets with the help of business community.

LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah, Senior Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan and Vice President Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry said in a media statement that outgoing year 2020 was a testing year, not only for Pakistan but also for the entire world. The COVID-19 pandemic jolted the very basis of the economic activities, they said. It is a good omen that the year 2020 was ending on a positive note at the economic front, the statement said.

The LCCI office-bearers said that exports from July-November 2020 stood at $9.74 billion compared to $9.53 billion in July-November last year, showing a growth of two percent.

The net Foreign Direct Investment in 2019-20 stood at $2.56 billion as compared to $1.36 billion in 2018-19.

The average inflation rate in 2019-20 stood at 10.7 percent compared to 6.8 percent in 2018-19, said the statement.

The office-bearers said that the large manufacturing industries grew by 4.81 percent in the first quarter of the current year (July-September 2020). The interest rate decreased to seven percent. The stock market was doing really well.

They said that cement and automobiles (motorcycles) were showing record sales, record uptake in urea fertilisers had been observed, textile Industry was working at full capacity after a more than decade and the current account deficit had turned into a surplus of $1.6 billion in July-October 2020.

The LCCI office-bearers said that the government should focus on the momentum of economic growth in the new year. They hoped that prime minister’s construction package would yield great results in 2021.

The construction sector and its more than 40 allied industries were expected to grow in 2021 due to development in housing sector and the initiation of Ravi Riverfront development project.

They said that the recent initiative of the federal government of giving electricity relief package to the small industries would help small businesses and entire industrial sector to revive their operations and enhance their competitiveness in the year 2021.

The LCCI office-bearers said that the industrial sector, which grew by negative 2.64 percent in 2019-20, was expected to show robust performance in the coming year on the back of strong growth in textile sector.

They said that the introduction of mobile device manufacturing policy by the Ministry of Industries and Production would show great results in 2021 and help enhance the manufacturing base of our country, especially in the field of hi-tech products besides creating employment opportunities.

They said the electric vehicle policy would produce excellent results in 2021 as many plants were in the pipeline.

They said that the enhanced production of industrial sector was also likely to impact our exports positively in 2021. The exports have already started showing positive growth this year.

The exports in July-November stood at $9.7 billion, two percent higher compared to the same period last year, they added.