The Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, the President of the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, the President of All Karachi Industrial Alliance, the Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board, and the President and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain, said on Tuesday that the Prime Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif and COAS General Asim Munir had prevented a default through excellent teamwork.
He said the frustrated and disappointed nation has become hopeful of an economic turnaround due to the efforts of PM and COAS, which took them less than a year.
Mian Zahid Hussain said this is an outstanding achievement. The destroyed economy has been put on the path of restoration with incredible speed, and things are rapidly improving.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that now steps should be taken to relieve the people and the salaried class.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the politically immature rulers of the past made such policies for cheap fame and personal interests that deprived people with low incomes of necessities. Inflation continued to rise while people’s incomes decreased. These difficult conditions disappointed the people with the country’s future, while traders and industrialists watched the slow destruction of their businesses.
During that time, work on CPEC was stopped, relations with friendly countries were turned into enmity, and the government was pushed into diplomatic isolation. During the rule of politically incompetent, terrorists were declared guests and assets, the horror of which the entire nation suffered.
He said that when things got too bad, incompetent rulers were removed through a no-confidence motion, after which Shahbaz Sharif became the Prime Minister and started delivering.
The Prime Minister and his team, on the advice of the FPCCI, started a series of measures to crack down on private power plants that were destroying the country’s economy, due to which electricity has slowly started getting cheaper.
The trade deficit was curbed, the dollar’s rising value was curbed, foreign exchange reserves were increased, and tax revenues were significantly increased. After the agreement with the IMF, its painful conditions were implemented.
He said these efforts improved the global economy, which is also recognized globally. Mian Zahid Hussain said that the measures taken against electricity, gas, and tax evasion are bearing fruit, providing relief to the people while Pakistani products are becoming competitive in the global market.
Under these circumstances, political dwarfs’ efforts to spread chaos and stop remittances failed, and Pakistanis living in other countries started sending record remittances. Exports increased, and interest rates continued to decrease.
The State Bank of Pakistan’s interest rate of 12 percent and foreign exchange reserves equal to three months’ imports are clear signs of economic improvement.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said the government should end political chaos, terrorism, and conflicts in essential institutions. At the same time, the opposition needs to adopt the path of understanding and reconciliation and return to the national mainstream through the Charter of Economy so that the country’s journey to prosperity can be accelerated.
