Fixing a growth target of just 3.3 percent during the ongoing fiscal year 2009-10 will not steer the country out of current economic woes and government should come forward to support businesses for accelerating economic growth of the country.

This was observed by Zahid Maqbool, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry while chairing a meeting to review the SBP’s first quarterly report of financial year 2009-10.

He was of the view that in the current scenario of massive and unannounced power & gas load shedding, highest utility tariffs, law and order issues, high mark up, rising inflation and contracting domestic demand etc. even achieving a growth target of 3.3 percent seems to be an uphill task.

He said due to these factors trade and industry is passing through a rough patch while the coming months also don’t look encouraging for business activities as growing energy shortage and rising cost of doing business will dampen the productivity of manufacturers and industrialists.

Zahid Maqbool said private sector plays a vital role in the growth of an economy by starting new ventures and expanding existing ones. However, the private sector credit witnessed the worst performance in 23 years as it was crowded out of credit by heavy borrowing of public sector from banks. They said this situation will lead to further shrinkage in economic activities.

He stressed that to achieve a better growth, government should rationalize utility tariffs, ensure uninterrupted power & gas supply to business & industry, bring down interest rate to single digit, provide easy credit to businesses, lure investment and improve law & order situation in the country so that economy could witness a turnaround.