Business community calls for charter of economy to strengthen economy

ISLAMABAD, Mar 12 (APP): The Coordinator to Federal Tax Ombudsman and Chairman of Kyrgyzstan Trade House Meher Kashif Younis on Sunday stressed the urgent need for evolving a charter of the economy, a charter of democracy and enforcing them effectively studded with a jewel of good governance.

Speaking at a seminar on the “Charter of Economy” organised under the aegis of Gold Ring Economic Forum, a strategic think tank, he said initiatives such as diversifying sources of raising domestic finances for investment in the prioritised productive sector and encouraging capital spending on the energy sector to eliminate foreign crutches will take a bit longer. However, these steps will not be enough for the turnaround of the economy and sustained and inclusive growth, he added.

He said that faced with an acute shortage of dollars and spiralling inflation, anecdotal evidence suggests that the market is beginning to adjust to changing ground realities.

For example, he said, one can see a marked shift in investment from the greenback to gold. He said it was reported that $6.5 billion worth of gold (up by 34 pc to 13 tonnes in quantity) was purchased mainly by investors in the first quarter of the current fiscal year which was sold by middle-income groups selling their jewellery to cope with the rising costs of living.

Meher Kashif Younis said, “We urgently need an emergency economic stabilisation program with three components: external debt sustainability framework, fiscal stability plan and structural reforms.”

He said there is no other way out to bring back IMF. By allowing microfinance banks and specialised primary dealers to open investors’ portfolio securities account services more than 85 million branchless and mobile banking users will be enabled to take advantage of attractive returns offered by government securities, he added.

Referring to ongoing political polarisation in the country, he urged the politicians to talk and discuss all contentious matters to take the country out of the current financial crunch and the quagmire of polarisation.

Democracies worldwide have to reinvent themselves to become more responsive to the needs of their people and cooperate to find people-centric solutions, he concluded.