KARACHI, Nov 16 (NNI): Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, President FPCCI, has welcomed
the successful completion of first review of the staff-level agreement
(SLA) with IMF pertaining to the current Standby Agreement (SBA).
The business community has stood by the government to surpass its
revenue generation target despite all odds – and, above all, unbearable
cost of doing business in the wake of triple whammy of electricity, gas
and petroleum prices, he added.
Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, nonetheless, reiterated FPCCI’s stance that Pakistan
must embark on a tangible, pragmatic and business-friendly plan to get
rid of IMF – and, its unnecessary and ruthless conditionalities; which
evaporates any possibility of business &economic growth. We can generate
more resources through boosting trade & industry than knocking at the
doors of IMF again in April 2024 after completion of the ongoing 9-month
standby agreement in March 2024.
FPCCI Chief questioned that why economic team of the government has
still not been able to secure other sources of cheaper external
financing from multilateral sources and international financial
institutions (IFIs) like World Bank, International Finance Corporation
(IFC), Asian Development Bank (ADB)and Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
It is pertinent to note that IMF-SBA kicked off 5 months back in July
2023, he added.
Mr. Sheikh explained that due to the lack of institutional arrangements
with IFIs, Pakistan will continue to rely on bilateral loans from
friendly countries to complete the current IMF program – while, our
preference should have been investment, trade and industrial
collaboration with friendly countries.
Mr. Irfan Iqbal Sheikh demanded that now the government must tighten its
regulatory oversight over the speculative trading of dollars by the
commercial banks as the interbank market has shown depreciation of Pak
Rupee over the last 3 weeks or 17 trading sessions consecutively– except
today.
As pointed out by FPCCI earlier in the week, the trend in international
oil markets is bearish and today it has come down to $80.90 per barrel.
He also expressed his disappointment that the government did not
transfer the gains on account of declining international oil prices to
the masses for the fortnight of November 16 – November 30, 2023.
FPCCI Chief also welcomed the proposed 40 percent tax on the windfall
profits of the commercial banks for the years of 2021 – 2022. The next
in line should be facilitating access to finance to the business,
industry and trade community through bringing down the key policy rate
of the State Bank of Pakistan and the resultant rationalization of
export finance scheme (EFS) and long-term financing facility (LTFF).
Mr. Muhammad Suleman Chawla, SVP FPCCI, proposed that the government
should announce confidence building measures with the business
community; and, rationalization of the utility prices and lending rates
could be the first steps towards putting Pakistan on a relatively
accelerated economic growth trajectory backed by industrialization and
exports. Any EFS, LTFF or TERF program over 10 percent is useless given
the regional and international competitive landscape, he added. NNI
