The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has welcomed the announcement of Prime Minister of Pakistan to establish CPEC Authority for timely completion of CPEC projects and termed it a positive development as its materialization would start a new era of industrialization in Pakistan.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President and Rafat Farid, Senior Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that promoting industrialization was the key requirement to stabilize the economy and hoped that the establishment of CPEC Authority would be a right step in that direction.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal said that Pakistan was confronted with many challenges at its eastern and western borders and a strong economy was the key to cope with these challenges effectively. He said that a weak economy would not only create internal challenges, it would also give rise to external threats for the country. Therefore, stabilizing the economy should be the top most priority of the government, he added.
He said that for the financial year 2018-19, large scale manufacturing was projected to grow by over 8 percent, but as per latest figures of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, it instead of achieving growth, LSM has shrunk by over 3 percent during this period, which was not a good sign for the economic future of the country. He said that all major industrial sectors including food, beverages, petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and iron & steel have experienced decline, which should be a cause of concerns for the policymakers.
ICCI President said that the role and contribution of industry important in the GDP of Pakistan, therefore, he emphasized that government should take urgent measures to resolve key issues of industry and take policy measures to create conducive environment for its growth. He was hopeful that the establishment of CPEC Authority would start a new phase of JVs and investment in Pakistan that would promote industrialization, create plenty of new jobs, help in alleviating unemployment & poverty and enable the economy to march on the path of sustainable growth.