Weak institutions are putting pressure on national exchequer instead of contributing to economic development of the country and government should take all possible measures for building strong and effective institutions to ensure good governance and promote growth with equity & stability.

These views were expressed by businessmen in a meeting at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) chaired by Zahid Maqbool, President ICCI.

Zahid Maqbool said that the country is facing numerous problems due the rot that has set in many national institutions and stressed upon the government to launch urgent efforts to stop institutional erosion, undertake renovation where possible and innovation where necessary.

He said that government should take steps to build strong institutions by improving the rules of governance as well as through policy and regulatory reforms. It should strengthen private sector as the true engine for sustainable economic growth and encourage public-private partnership. Government should accelerate human resource development through increased investments in education and health including population welfare.

He said in this age of media revolution and knowledge-based economy, people cannot be satisfied with mere lip-service and government should ensure built-in self-corrective mechanisms in institutions so that non-performers do not endure on the basis of worthless slogans and empty promises.

The businessmen said that current state of affairs, exemplified by lackluster performance of institutions was not only creating problems in governance, it was also hampering the smooth economic growth.

They urged that government should allocate adequate funding for capacity building of institutions. They said the regulatory systems should be constantly watched to ensure that their activities do not become conservative and begin to create bottlenecks in the development process.

They said government should frame the basic rules of economic activity in terms of safety standards, pollution control, provision of basic social services, protecting the vulnerable segments of society while the private sector should be assigned the dominant role for the economic development of the country.