IMF's interference in economy mother of ills: LCCI

Economy is inching towards point of no return due to disturbing interference of International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the Pakistani economy therefore people sitting on the helm of affairs must revisit economic policies. The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Malik Tahir Javaid expressed these views in a statement on Saturday. "I had identified 25 sectors to overcome trade deficit to help jack-up exports and curtail imports", he added.
Industry is the main victim of deepening economic crisis. Rupee devaluation is adding to the economic miseries of the country and all these ills produced just because of awful interference of IMF in the Pakistan's economic matters and dictations to the policy makers for taking harsh measures, he maintained.
The LCCI president said Pakistan is the "most frequent customer" of IMF and Pakistani governments often depended on borrowing from IMF and accepted stringent conditions despite the fact that this institution is merciless money lender which always forced Pakistan to adopt bad policies like rupee devaluation, massive increases in the electricity and gas prices.
"How a country can take independent decisions and grow its economy when it is carrying the burden of over $85 billion debs and utilizing huge part of the federal budget for debt servicing", the LCCI President questioned. He said that Pakistan would be loser in many heads if immediate measures are not taken to get rid of the massive loans which are the mother of most of the economic ills.
He said that though it is a tough but not impossible task as if Turkey can do it than why we cannot. He reiterated the Lahore Chamber's demand for appointing a permanent finance minister and said at present, the portfolio of Finance Minister is under the Prime Minister's control as per cabinet rules while country is witnessing an unstable economic situation. There is no overnight solution of the economic problems but there is a dire need to set directions and to introduce economic reforms in the favour of trade and industry, he added.
The country faced various economic challenges in last year including decline in exports & foreign direct investment, lowest tax-to-GDP ratio and inefficiency of public sector entities but these challenged can be coped through meaningful partnership and dialogues between the government and the private sector, he maintained.
While giving the formula for economic independence, he said there are a number of issues that must be tackled on priority basis. The biggest one is how to keep the momentum of growth in the wake of a less than targeted growth of the agriculture and the manufacturing sector. The second one is the widening gap between exports and imports that could be contained by enhancing exports, he said.
The government will also have to focus on agriculture, manufacturing sector, education, water, human resources, minerals, public health, tax collection system and end of corruption should be focused to get rid of economic worries. The growth of agriculture sector would not only ensure food security and provision of raw material to the largest export-oriented industry textile but would also generate huge revenue for the government and vast employment opportunities.
Pakistan needs to increase the yield per acre on steady pace therefore government should plan to bring that about nine million hectors of fertile land under cultivation which is remained useless just because of shortage of water, he added. The Lahore Chamber would continue to play its due role and supplement the government endeavours aimed at economic revival of the country and had already started spade work to this regard to identify the challenges being faced by the trade & industry.
He also stressed the need for developing regional, product specific and target oriented marketing strategy. He said that Trade Development Authority (TDA) should be revamped and private sector representation should be there so that the exports could be increased.