KARACHI
Mian Zahid Hussain, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum & All Karachi Industrial Alliance, Chairman National Business Group Pakistan, Chairman Policy Advisory Board FPCCI, and Former Provincial Minister Information Technology, today expressed cautious optimism regarding Pakistan’s latest macroeconomic indicators.
While welcoming the record-breaking performance of the Pakistan Stock Exchange and significant foreign financing agreements, he underscored the need for the government to translate these high-level gains into relief for the struggling industrial sector and the common citizen.
“The current economic landscape presents a dichotomy of historic market highs and deep-rooted industrial pain,” said Mian Zahid Hussain.
He noted that the KSE-100 Index reaching a historic peak of 188,621 points reflects strong investor confidence in the reform agenda and the anticipation of a 1% further policy rate cut on January 26.
However, he warned that the “real economy” continues to face headwinds, evidenced by a current account deficit of $1.174 billion for the first half of FY26—a sharp reversal from the $957 million surplus recorded in the same period last year.
The veteran business leader lauded the signing of three major financing agreements worth $603 million with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). “The allocation of $475 million for the 306-kilometre Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway (M-6) is a landmark development for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This final link in the North-South corridor will drastically reduce logistics costs and connect Karachi’s ports to the rest of the country more efficiently,” he added.
Mian Zahid Hussain also highlighted the transformative potential of the $4.5 billion in agricultural investment MoUs recently signed with China. These 79 agreements across 10 sub-sectors are expected to help Pakistan double its current $8 billion agricultural export target within three years. However, he emphasized that for these investments to bear fruit, the government must address the rising cost of production.
“While inflation has sharply decelerated to 5.6% from the 37% in May 2023, our industrial competitiveness is being strangled by high energy tariffs,” he remarked. He called on the State Bank of Pakistan to aggressively reduce the policy rate from its current 10.5% to single digits (7–9%) to unlock private sector credit. He pointed out that while foreign assistance rose by 20% to $4.51 billion in H1 FY26, the country’s goods exports fell by 7.78% during the same period, reaching Rs 4.27 trillion.
On a somber note, Mian Zahid Hussain expressed profound grief over the rising death toll in the Gul Plaza fire tragedy, which has now claimed 67 lives. He demanded a high-level judicial inquiry into the incident and a mandatory safety audit of all commercial plazas in Karachi to protect the lives of visitors, traders and workers.
Concluding his statement, Mian Zahid Hussain urged the government to remain steadfast in its privatization agenda, particularly following the successful move on PIA, and to prioritize the digitization of the tax system to increase the tax-to-GDP ratio beyond the current 10.5%.
