Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said that despite the most difficult conditions, the government is making every possible effort to provide relief to the people, which is worthy of praise.
He said providing free flour and cheap oil to the poor is a people-friendly decision to relieve the public.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that free flour would be provided to 18 lakh households during Ramadan in Punjab, which will cost 53 billion rupees, and soon the scope of this program will be extended to other provinces.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has also decided to provide 21 litres of cheap petrol per month for motorcycles, rickshaws, and vehicles up to 800 cc.
Under the petrol relief package, petrol will be given to the poor sections at fifty rupees less than the original price, and the rich will meet this deficit.
The business leader said that the prices of petroleum products had been greatly increased to get the IMF loan, but the Prime Minister’s decision will give the people relief of one billion and twenty crore rupees.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that there are practical complications in implementing this decision. At the same time, some petroleum dealers may also hinder its success, so instead of providing cheap petrol at the petrol pump, the public should be provided with cash through banks or Easy Paisa.
In the current situation, inflation has burdened the people, so more such decisions and measures are also needed to control the prices of food items.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that we need import substitution. Despite being an agricultural country, Pakistan imports commodities worth seventeen billion dollars.
If this huge capital is invested in corporate farming, agricultural imports will not be needed, and the economy will progress.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that twenty billion dollars are being spent annually on importing oil and gas. Suppose this huge amount is used to promote solar energy in the country. In that case, millions of homes, businesses, and factories can shift to solar energy, which will reduce the energy import bill by half in a few months, thereby saving Pakistan twenty billion dollars annually and ending trade and current account deficit.