ISLAMABAD, DEC 22 /DNA/ -The All Pakistan Business Forum (APBF) has said that the value-added small industry should be given the top priority of the government to generate employment, providing them maximum facilitation to meet their requirements.
APBF President Syed Maaz Mahmood said that the government needs to establish long-term and sustainable policies in consultation with the real stakeholders to enhance growth. He said that presently, the high cost of doing business has proved to be dangerous for the small industry, as the ever-increasing energy, gas and power tariffs are the real threat to the economy amidst high markup rate and continuous fluctuations exchange rate.
APBF Chairman Ibrahim Qureshi asked the government to take prompt measures to bring down the production costs for the small industry to enable them to compete in the international market.
He said that exporting SMEs are currently having difficulty to compete the global market because of rapid increase in production costs. He said that the high cost of production is not good for our exports.
Ibrahim Qureshi said that high energy tariffs, growing rates of taxes, and lack of skilled labor are the main reasons behind the increase in the cost of production. Manufacturing and production industries have the potential to significantly impact economic growth by reducing unemployment in the country. The small industry has an immense potential to create jobs with comparatively low investment and less energy needs, as it generates four times the employment at one-fourth of the energy consumption compared to other textile sectors.
Syed Maaz Mahmood said that Pakistan’s industry is struggling in the international market due to challenges such as high inflation, political instability, increased power tariff, rising fuel costs, energy shortages, and lack of R&D.
The APBF President said that an effective strategy is needed to improve the performance of the industrial sector. The government should facilitate exporters by providing a level playing field to them in terms of business costs, particularly in utility pricing, he suggested. He said Pakistan’s economy, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is struggling to cope with the current economic crunch, and needs support. Rather than providing subsidies or waivers, the industries are being burdened through rising production cost. The burden of surging oil prices in the international market is immediately transferred to consumers by the government, but the process of reducing prices is always very slow, he noted.
He asked the government to work on a fast track plan to address expansive energy issue and priority should be given to the value-added small industry in this regard.
He urged for increasing ease of doing business, lowering cost of production, paying early refunds to solve liquidity crunch, relaxing import policy for industrial raw material, and equalizing the energy tariff across the country.
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