Shehbaz praises 'improvement' in economic conditions

• PM vows to boost industry, form committee for economic reforms.
• Business leaders urge tax cuts, port expansion for economic growth.
• Industrialist stresses need of privatising Discos to tackle circular debt.
  

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that the country's macroeconomic conditions had improved considerably due to the efforts of his economic team. 

However, he emphasised that further work was needed at the microeconomic level to ensure that the benefits of economic progress reached the people, The News reported on Saturday. 

He made these remarks during a meeting with a delegation of leading industrialists and business figures.

The prime minister reiterated the government’s commitment to prioritising the growth and development of industry and commerce.

He said business community and industrialists were backbone of the country’s economy and it was our top priority to resolve the issues faced by them.

He said the government was striving for putting in place business and investment friendly policies. The prime minister directed formation of a committee comprising businessmen, industrialists and government ministers for suggesting a path for sustainable economic growth. 

The committee would give suggestions to the government within two weeks.

The delegation appreciated the government for its economic policies and for bringing improvement in the economic indicators.

Meanwhile, Mian Muhammad Mansha, Pakistan’s leading business tycoon while talking to The News on Friday night said that PM Shehbaz Sharif along with his team held a meeting with businessmen with the aim to remove stumbling blocks in the way for creating more jobs in the country. 

He said that they informed the PM that the Karachi Port had become too congested so its expansion was required on an immediate basis because it caused a surge in the cost of imports and exports. There is a need to establish more terminals on both sides of the Karachi Port outside the city, he added.

He said that it was also suggested to the government to reduce tax rates because without rationalisation of tax burden the economic activities could not be promoted. He said that the supply side of economics needs to be applied to generate economic activities thus will help the government to recover more tax revenues. 

Mansha further stated that he had proposed to the government to strengthen recovery of loan laws in Pakistan so that the bankers could provide loans to every segment of the society. He cited an example of Sri Lanka and said that the recovery laws were strengthened there so loans could be provided to all segments. 

He said that the government also shared some details of its plan to utilise available fiscal space through reduced debt servicing for provision of erasing some portion of the circular debt and slashing the power tariff. He said that the government will have to focus on implementation of its plans to generate increased economic activities. 

He said that the government will have to privatise Power Distribution Companies (Discos) as the circular debt could not be tackled with the status quo. He said that the major loss-making Discos would have to be privatised to curb accumulation in the circular debt, he concluded.