F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Industrial & Traders Associations Front (PIAF) Chairman Fahimur Rahman Saigol has said that educated and skilled people can play a better role in national and economic development, calling for formulating an effective policy for the promotion of demand-driven technical education, as the present setup of technical training is not addressing the requirements of modern industrialization.
These views were expressed by the PIAF Chairman, who attended the annual meeting of Defense Welfare Society as a special guest and addressed the audience.
He appreciated the work and passion of the organizers of Defense Welfare Society who are providing technical education to students in this era of inflation, which is valuable and praiseworthy.
The PIAF Chairman observed that promotion of technical education is vital and much-needed for economic growth. He said that the collaboration between the industry and academia will ultimately bridge the skill gap, leading to a quantum jump in the country’s exports.
Fahimur Rahman said that the young generation should pay full attention to their studies because they have to take care of the country’s future.
The speakers on this occasion said that the aggressive economic measures, high borrowing rates, inflation, oppressive taxation and unstable currency have been negatively affecting the trade and industry.
PIAF Chairman Faheemur Rehman Saigol observed that the ever-increasing cost of production in the country is the real threat to both large-scale manufacturing and small-scale businesses, as frequent upward revisions in policy rate and continuous fluctuations in rupee against dollar are posing further challenges.
They said that the government does not have any pragmatic plan to address this liability, apart from asking for more loans to repay existing debt. Likewise, the target for current financial year’s exports is too low to meet the country’s revenue.
According to the data, the pace of growth in LSM industries is suffering because of restrictions imposed on imports that have caused a shortage of imported raw material. The steep currency devaluation has also made raw material expensive and business models unviable.
Faheem Saigol said that the LSM trend indicates that this year that the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate may remain around 1% due to the shutdown of industries and adverse impact of the devastating floods on the agriculture sector.
The government had targeted economic growth of 3% in the current fiscal year but the latest estimates – both by the IMF and the federal government – indicate that growth will be marginally in the positive territory.
Since large industries contribute heavily to revenue collection and job creation, any change in their growth impacts the government and business sentiment across the board.
The LSM sector contributes nearly one-tenth to total national output, however, a constant decline in the share and growth of LSM may cause a lot of problems for the government already struggling to create new jobs.
On this occasion, Fahimur Rahman Sehgal congratulated the newly elected President of Defense Welfare Society, Hakeem Mohammad Usman and Vice President Abrar Ahmed. He also appreciated the work of the children of the welfare society and distributed prizes among them. EC members PIAF and Lahore Chamber Hakeem Muhammad Usman, Malik Muhammad Nadeem, Sheikh Muhammad Ashfaq, Abrar Ahmed and other members were also present in the ceremony.
