The Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front Chairman Mian Nauman Kabir has called for putting the economy on a balanced and sustainable growth trajectory, addressing the underlying structural vulnerabilities, as low export growth, limited foreign exchange reserves, documentation of economy and higher food inflation are still major challenges to the economy.
PIAF Chairman Mian Nauman Kabir, in a joint statement along with senior vice chairman Nasir Hameed and vice chairman Javed Iqbal, also expressed concern over the State Bank prediction that Pakistan is likely to miss the real GDP growth target of 4 percent for this fiscal year (FY20) mainly due to subdued performance of agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
He stressed the need for building on gains on the ease of doing business front, which requires not just the capacity development in key public institutions, but also a continuous dialogue with relevant stakeholders to ensure smooth implementation, he added.
He said that owing to low unit prices, exports growth remained low. However, in volumetric terms exports witnessed a noticeable growth.
Referring to the quarterly report of the central bank, Nauman Kabir said that the overall deficit remained lower as compared to the same period of last year, and the primary balance recorded a surplus for the first time in 7 quarters. This improvement was made possible through both revenue enhancing and expenditure control measures. Importantly, development expenditures witnessed a sharp growth of 30.5 percent during the quarter, the report mentioned.
