Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Monday that important economic decisions have remained subject to political interests for several decades. He said that politically motivated financial choices have put the country’s economy at stake, and now the economy can no longer bear the burden of wrong decisions. Mian Zahid Hussain said that the recent petrol price reduction is correct, but further reduction is needed.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that even the most important decisions in the country have always been made under political pressure, which now the entire nation is suffering.
Recruitments in the important national institutions were done under political interests, as a result of which 80 institutions, including PIA, Steel Mills, WAPDA, Railways, and others, are losing rupees one trillion annually, for which taxpayers are punished, he added.
The business leader said that lack of governance has put the country’s survival at stake, and most people have become despondent about poverty and a better future.
Apart from developed nations and countries in the region, African countries do not allow political interference in economic decisions. However, he observed that this has never been done in Pakistan, which has made a prosperous country a beggar.
He said that dozens of countries have made great progress by entrusting economic matters to experts instead of politicians, but unfortunately, this has never happened in Pakistan.
He added that systems have been developed in developed countries to protect experts who make important economic decisions from political pressure, which Pakistan needs more than ever before.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that we should stop making decisions on a political basis in important sectors like health, education, and revenue so that instead of producing labourers, we can have experts in different fields and stop tax evasion of four thousand billion rupees annually.
The country has become bankrupt by prioritising politics in every sector, and interest payments on debts have exceeded revenue receipts. Even the most important expenses are being met by taking out loans. In these circumstances, the Chief of Army Staff has decided to help the government save the country and put the economy back on track, which is being fully supported across the country.
Along with anti-terrorism operations, the Army works hard against corruption, smuggling, profiteering, hoarding, and speculation. It has discouraged wrongdoers, due to which the value of the rupee is improving, and inflation is coming down.
The establishment of SIFC also has good prospects, and foreign investment of 100 billion dollars is expected. Suppose the government and the army chief succeed in their intentions and save the country from disaster by correcting its economic direction. In that case, the services of the army chief will be remembered for a long time as the country’s benefactor, he observed.
People are looking at him as their last hope, and the business community also has high expectations of him.