ISLAMABAD
\nFPCCI\u2019s presidential candidate, Atif Ikram Sheikh, welcomed the steady decline in the US dollar on Sunday, terming it highly satisfactory for the masses and the business community.
\nThis daily decline has become a routine, improving foreign exchange reserves and the confidence of investors, he said.
\nHe said that despite the higher supply of dollars, the pressure on the exchange rate is still there as demand from importers is increasing each day, which must be controlled and monitored while energy prices should be reduced.
\nAtif Ikram Sheikh, who has also served as VP FPCCI, Chairman PVMA, and President ICCI, said in a statement issued here today that administrative measures are not enough in the long run; therefore, exports, remittances, and revenue should be increased, and expenses should be controlled.
\nHe recalled that the serious foreign exchange crisis had damaged the economy a lot, but now it seems to be ending. Domestic and foreign investors remained worried for years, and their goods at the port were not being cleared due to a lack of foreign exchange.
\nHe added that due to this crisis, hundreds of containers were piled up at ports while importers were facing demurrage and detention charges.
\nThe business leader said that our total annual income is sixty billion dollars while imports are almost 80 billion dollars, and therefore it is impossible to run the country without borrowing.
\nHe noted that to achieve self-sufficiency, we have to increase income and reduce imports, for which economic policies have to be restructured for public welfare as productivity and exports are alarmingly low.
\nHe said that the country\u2019s problems, population, and loans are continuously increasing, and the economic system is totally dependent on imports, so whenever the growth rate is more than four percent, the import bill becomes unaffordable.
\nTo improve this situation, we have to make fundamental changes in our economic model and shift to solar and wind energy immediately to reduce the import bill for petroleum products.
\nInstead of distributing 17 billion dollars or four thousand billion rupees to foreign farmers every year, we have to improve our country\u2019s agriculture so that the country is self-sufficient in agriculture.
\nThe welfare of the people must be a priority, and policies should be made so that investors are interested in productive sectors instead of non-productive sectors, which will increase production and exports and provide employment to the people.
\nThe cost of production in the manufacturing sector has to be made competitive in the global market so that they are able to increase exports instead of concentrating on the local market, he demanded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD FPCCI\u2019s presidential candidate, Atif Ikram Sheikh, welcomed the steady decline in the US dollar on Sunday, terming it highly satisfactory for the masses and the business community. This daily decline has become a routine, improving foreign exchange reserves and the confidence of investors, he said. He said that despite the higher supply of dollars, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-361876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n