KARACHI: President of United Business Group (UBG), Zubair Tufail has said that continuous increase in mark-up rate, gas and electricity crisis, devaluation of rupee against dollar; this situation could become alarmingly dangerous if immediate steps are not taken to curb the widening gap between imports and exports.

At present the wheel of the national economy is not moving in the right direction, people are worried, the business community is also worried while the purchasing power of the common man is being severely affected and becoming unbearable, in these circumstances Prime Minister Imran Khan have to take right steps to come out of this critical situation.

Talking to newsmen at launch in their honour, he said that the rupee has crossed Rs178 against the dollar, which is causing a new storm of inflation in the country. It is feared to escalate further.

Zubair Tufail appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to take immediate action realising the gravity of the situation as the appreciation of the dollar has led to fears that the rupee will depreciate further which will affect not only national security but also the economy. If Prime Minister Imran Khan does not solve this problem, then Pakistan’s sovereignty will be endangered. That is why it is important to control the value of the dollar and ban unnecessary imports and the government should take steps to stop unnecessary imports on an emergency basis.

The people cannot afford more inflation. In the current situation, the government should consult with the stakeholders to strengthen the country’s economy.

He pointed out that when he was the president of FPCCI, he got exports refunds from the then government of Rs105 billion and this money went directly to the exports accounts online but the existing group in FPCCI The businessmen’s panel did not give the exporters their money nor did it solve the problems of the business community.

Responding to a question, Zubair Tufail said that the wheel of economy is not running, people are worried and their purchasing power is becoming unbearable. The government should pay special attention to agriculture and instead of importing commodities from abroad, they should be cultivated in the country so that valuable capital can be saved.

Referring to forth coming election of FPCCI, he said presidential candidate of UBG Dr Noman Butt is educated and has a business acumen while senior vice presidential candidate Mohammad Hanif Gohar is also a very strong candidate.

Commenting on the research centre at FPCCI, Zubair Tufail said that UBG will come to power and maintain the research board as there is no denying the capabilities of the head of this board Younis Dhaga and we also want that the federation should work on research which we will improve when we come to power.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021

Comments

Comments are closed.