(Oct 14-2022)
Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said friendly country China should waive or reschedule loans extended to Pakistan.
Rescheduling loans worth twenty-three billion dollars will make repayments easy for Pakistan which is facing financial problems, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank should release loans as soon as possible so that the rehabilitation work of the victims can be carried out in a vigorous manner and the upcoming crops are not affected.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that Pakistan and China have always supported each other and both countries have the same position on regional and global issues.
Both countries are each other’s best friends, so China should either waive the loans or defer the loans, he added.
The business leader said that if China does not want to waive the loans given to Pakistan, it can reduce the interest so that the financial pressure on Pakistan is reduced to some extent.
He said that unnecessary imports should be kept under strict control and no one should be allowed to use the back door of smuggling.
The value of the dollar has recovered somewhat after falling for thirteen days, but its value should not be allowed to increase further because its stability destabilizes the rupee, while the business community holds decisions to reduce the prices of their products.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that in order to provide relief to the public, the value of the dollar needs to be brought below 200 rupees, for which further steps should be taken.
A reduction in the value of the dollar by more than 200 rupees will reduce inflation and the people will be relieved.
Some international organizations are frequently portraying the Pakistani economy negatively and are busy releasing disappointing figures that should be taken into account.
According to some organizations, poverty, inflation and current account deficit in Pakistan will increase while production and employment will be reduced while the growth rate will decrease.
He said that the government should accelerate efforts to control inflation, restore the economy and provide relief to the people and pay special attention to increasing the production of food items so that the food security situation remains under control.
