close
Thursday March 28, 2024

Falling exports a chronic economic issue: Imran

By our correspondents
October 24, 2017

KARACHI: Imran Khan, chairman, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Monday said falling exports are a chronic issue for the economy and it has severe consequences in the shape of industry closure and unemployment.

Addressing the members of Site Association of Trade and Industry, he prioritised employment generation, exports, investment and reforms in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for economic revival.

Imran said employment creation was the need of the time because Pakistan had the second largest young population in the world. He said there was immense shortage of skilled labour in the country and industry should contribute towards this issue. Besides, he also pointed out that cost of employment in the country was high.

PTI chairman said exports were falling and the trade gap was rising. “This shows the country needs to go to IMF for another loan programme,” he said. He said the twin deficits did not appear overnight. “The government was fudging the numbers to portray the stable economy,” he claimed.

He said exporters should be incentivised and input cost should be brought down for enhancing manufacturing activities. Due to high cost, Pakistani products were not in the international markets, he added.

Imran said attracting investment was a guarantee for economic growth. He said the government had not created conducive environment for investors. “Instead prices are increased, which reflects incompetence and corruption in the system,” he added.

The PTI chief said the present government had claimed it cleared the circular debt. “The circular debt is still standing despite the fact of reduced international oil prices,” he added.

He blamed the government for not resolving issues related to public sector enterprises (PSEs) and said taxpayers’ money was pumped into units like Pakistan Steel and Pakistan International Airline (PIA), which increased the debt.

“The government solved the issue of rising debt by increasing indirect taxes which causes inflationary pressure,” he added. There was need to enhance direct taxes. “If industry grows the direct taxes will also increase and there is inflationary pressure.”

Imran said there was dire need to reform the FBR and make it an autonomous body. Referring to the World Bank report, he said the FBR collection was Rs3,500 billion and around Rs3,200 billion every year was lost due to incompetency and corruption.

He also claimed there was annual $10 billion money laundering, which was a major loss for the country. “If this amount is available, it will create more economic opportunities in the country,” he added.

Imran said Panama Paper case was actually based on money laundering. He further said the actual case was behind Hudaibiya Paper Mills, which PTI was pursuing on priority basis. Earlier, Asad Umar, senior leader of PTI, said the economy could not be improved by imposing additional duty and taxes. “There is need to declare export emergency in the country,” he said, and added that the foreign exchange reserves were falling.