Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Wednesday that the caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar’s assurance of continuing the previous government’s policies is timely and welcome. He said this assurance was a relief for the business community, which was apprehensive about the prospect of a radical change in key economic policies.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that continuing the previous government’s policies also means that the IMF programme will be maintained, which is necessary to save Pakistan from bankruptcy.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that all the reforms required for the success of the IMF’s November review should be completed on time; otherwise, the IMF programme will be derailed, and the country’s problems will increase.

He said that the sudden increase in the value of the dollar and petroleum products and the decrease of more than 400 points in the stock market after taking the oath of the caretaker prime minister are worrisome.

He added that the downward trend in exports and remittances is also continuing, which are signs of a deepening economic crisis.

The business leader said that the federal cabinet should be finalised immediately so that they could start working.

According to the caretaker Prime Minister, he is keen on reforms in the power sector and broadening the tax base. At the same time, he is serious about improving the economic situation through deregulation.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the caretaker PM is also keen on attracting foreign investment under the SIFC, which the previous government created for the same purpose.

The PM’s top priority will be to increase the speed of foreign investment and reforms in all sectors while also upgrading the communication system in Balochistan.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the business community is hopeful that the caretaker prime minister will try his best to get the economy out of its current problems and include capable and sincere people in his team so that the public and the business community can get some relief.