Senator Haji Ghulam Ali see country’s survival in GDP growth

Lahore: Presidential candidate for FPCCI Senator Haji Ghulam Ali on Friday said three percent increase in the GDP is imperative to ensure the survival of the country facing internal and external challenges.

The population in the job market is increasing by three percent per annum which can be accommodated only if growth rate is at 7.5 percent, he said.

The economic situation is not good since last eight years while international lenders have predicted that it will not improve substantially in the next five years which is alarming, he said while speaking at a reception. He said that country is to face issues of poverty, food security, unemployment, brain drain, internal security, and external threats is revolutionary steps were not taken.

Speaking at the occasion, President of PBIF, All Karachi Industrial Alliance and First Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI Mian Zahid Hussain said that only good GDP growth will give government necessary space to invest in infrastructure, human capital, health and education, he added. He said that Pakistan’s economy was so stable at a time that it provided loans to US, Japan and Germany but after getting foreign loans things changed.

Mian Zahid said that far Pakistan has received over 104 billion dollars in loans and grants which has compounded miseries of the masses therefore time has come to set aside the recipe of IMF and other multilaterals and opt for home grown solutions.

He said that record fall in oil prices have helped many countries to save money and improve infrastructure and social indicators but the same is not allowed in Pakistan due to dominating role of IMF.