Government is still far behind in achieving the set economic targets for the year 2011-12 even after 6 months of the current fiscal year. Government should ensure good governance and corruption free system for maintaining economic stability and accelerating the pace of economic development.

Pakistan is facing multiple internal and external challenges because of inconsistent economic policies, thus Government should take necessary measures in consultation with the private sector to come out from current economic turmoil, Asad Farid, Acting Vice president, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and industry (ICCI) in a statement.  

He said that Government has fixed its economic targets on the basis of revenue collection, thus, there is a dire need for enhancing tax to GDP ratio of the country which should be increased as in emerging economies it is at 22 percent and in developed economies at 37 percent.

ICCI Acting President said that the entire business community has serious reservations about heavy dependence on foreign loans that has reached over $60 billion. He emphasized on exploiting the true tax potential of the country and said that fair and equitable tax policies were essential for revamping tax collection system and pulling the economy out of mounting debt. Proactive measures should be introduced to plug the leakages and improve the refund system in tax departments, he maintained.

He was of the view that resources are not efficiently allocated according to the requirements and inappropriate allocation of resources reduces the opportunities to achieve desired results. Government could achieve higher growth rates by adopting long-term planning mechanism because unsustainable policies were the main impediments in achieving enviable economic targets, he added.

Asad Farid said that as a developing nation long-term planning is an essential mean of accelerating development and achieving desired economic targets. Pakistan could achieve the economic stability by practicing continuity of consistent economic policies, he added.