Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, All Karachi Industrial Alliance and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said the economy of a country that spends equal to a quarter of its GDP on imports could never be stable.
There is a need to widen the tax net and further reduce imports; otherwise, the country will not be able to run without borrowing.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that Pakistan’s imports of goods and services in 2021-22 were ninety billion dollars, almost equal to twenty-five percent of the GDP, which is unsustainable and will result in a default sooner or later.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that Pakistan’s exports and remittances and direct investment are not equal to the imports, leading to a crisis every two or three years.
He said that it is impossible to break the begging bowl until the current account deficit is turned into a permanent surplus.
The business leader said that the country’s debt burden could be reduced if the current account is surplus.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that 5280 megawatts of electricity could be generated from coal in Pakistan, of which seventy-five percent is generated from imported coal. In contrast, the country’s billions of tons of coal reserves are not being used.
Similarly, the enormous hydropower potential is being ignored along with other renewable sources of electricity.
Railways are an important means of providing relief to the public regarding fares, reducing business costs and environmental pollution. Many countries of the world are now building railway networks; At the same time, Pakistan had an excellent railway network before independence; it was destroyed to force the public and business community to use road transport.
Road transport benefited some elements, but the oil import bill increased; therefore, the government should try to restore the railways so things can improve.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that district-level gas companies might reduce the losses of billions of rupees.