KARACHI: /DNA/ – The Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, the President of the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, the President of All Karachi Industrial Alliance, the Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board, and the President and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain, said on Monday that the volume of foreign debt has exceeded Rs 33,000 billion.
In contrast, Pakistan’s total debt has reached Rs 88,000 billion, including government, non-government, IMF, and inter-company loans, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said obtaining a reasonable debt is necessary for the country’s development. At the same time, it is difficult for the government to move forward without eliminating unnecessary debts.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said the country’s population is increasing by two percent. The government provides the growing population with hospitals, roads, schools, electricity, and gas facilities.
He said that the government must collect taxes to relieve the masses because the government has to take domestic and foreign loans due to decreased tax collection. As long as the series of unnecessary tax incentives continues, the debts will continue to increase.
The business leader said that the biggest challenge among the country’s problems is the foreign debt burden. This burden continuously increases due to the decrease in tax revenue due to the country’s culture of not paying taxes.
Many people in the economy do not pay taxes, and tax incentives are also rising. In addition, many individuals and companies are transferring their capital and business abroad, reducing revenue.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that many people earn money in Pakistan and transfer a large part of it outside the country due to people’s distrust of their country and political stability.
He said that it is necessary to accelerate economic reforms and improve the tax system. Until the business environment in the country improves, there will be no investment, the economy will not develop, and people will not get employment.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the government is reducing expenses by billions of rupees by doing the correct sizing. However, the privatization process is slow.
The public and industry, including salaried employees and the service sector, bear the entire revenue burden. In contrast, many sectors, including retail, wholesale, agriculture, SMEs, and transport, are not ready to fulfill their responsibility.
He observed that the public and the business community can no longer bear the tax burden, so the government has no option but to modernize the tax system. It is also becoming difficult to obtain loans.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that, along with right-sizing, unnecessary institutions with zero output should be abolished because they burden the national exchequer.
Different governments created these departments only to accommodate their party workers. Apart from this, millions of ghost employees in various departments, including the education department, take salaries for not working, and it has become essential to dismiss them.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said corruption has increased dramatically in government departments. No legitimate work can be done without bribery, which must be eliminated; otherwise, the efforts for economic development will be in vain.
