Leader of the founder group of Lahore Chamber and its former Senior Vice President, Meher Kashif Younis has said that the political instability is hampering economic growth and slowing down the smooth flow of foreign direct investment in the country.
Talking to a delegation of traders led by Mufti Yousaf Shah, member Executive Committee Lahore Chamber, which called on him here on Thursday, he said all the efforts made during the last couple of years to maintain GDP growth of 5 percent plus will go waste if the political uncertainty is not promptly handled.
Meher Kashif Younis said, “Although Ukraine situation is beyond our control but the political uncertainty in Pakistan needs to be addressed prudently and it has to be ensured by the policy makers that ongoing political situation should have a minimum impact on the economy.”
Political stability and economic growth are deeply interconnected and uncertainty associated with unstable political environment curtail investment and slow down economic activities, he added.
The leader of founder group of Lahore Chamber said that the governments in politically fragmented countries with high degree of political instability need to address its root causes and try to mitigate its effects on the design and implementation of economic policies. Only then, countries could have durable economic policies that may engender high economic growth. Otherwise, political instability may have far reaching implications for economic growth, he maintained.
Meher Kashif said what business community need is political stability which is prerequisite for sustained economic growth to cope with the multiple challenges in Pakistan. He said that confrontation is not a solution to problems and ultimately country pay the price and people face the music.
He said time has changed as now the influential nations are paying more attention to financial warfare to continue their dominance. These countries are successfully using their weapons of economic destruction to weaken economics of poor nations to achieve their unholy designs while Pakistan’s economy is not strong enough to withstand economic terrorism.
Meher Kashif Younis said it is indeed important to boost our exports by controlling unnecessary imports to narrow down trade deficit and for that purpose we need to reduce cost of doing business coupled with friendly policies so that our products can remain competitive in the world markets. “Consistency in the government policies and a clear roadmap to move forward, is a key factor leading to progress, prosperity and development,” he added.
Head of the delegation Mufti Yousaf Shah stressed the urgent need of exploring new markets to find out new foreign destinations for the Pakistani products which are best in the world as far as quality and price is concerned. He said that Pakistani missions abroad can be instrumental to introduce Pakistani products to the foreign buyers and also ensure dissemination of trade related information so that Pakistan entrepreneurs could avail opportunities to the maximum for boosting exports.
