LAHORE – Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Mian Nauman Kabir has said that trade in local currencies, particularly with China, will help Pakistan to end the burden of relying on USD in bilateral trade and to bring down the trade deficit.
Kabir expressed these views while addressing an interactive session with the Lahore Economic Journalists Association (LEJA) at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
LCCI Senior Vice President Mian Rehman Aziz Chan, Vice President Haris Ateeq, President LEJA Muhammad Sudhir Chaudhry, LEJA body members and LCCI Executive Committee Members Ali Afzal and Ateeq-ur-Rehman also spoke on the occasion.
Kabir said that historic devaluation in Pak rupee has been recorded against the USD during the ongoing financial year. He said that trade deficit is one of the major reasons of rupee devaluation.
LCCI President said that said that Pakistan’s mutual trade volume only with China is more than USD 13 billion and if the country makes currency swap agreements with regional countries in general and with China in particular, it will significantly lift pressure off the foreign exchange reserves and dependency on the dollar will be decreased.
He called for the promotion of renewable energy sources to reduce dependence on costly electricity through thermal means and to reduce the oil import bill. He said that the government should also make price control mechanism effective to control inflation.
LCCI Senior Vice President Mian Rehman Aziz Chan and Vice President Haris Ateeq called for a National Economic Policy to cope the economic challenges saying that all segments should be on one page. They said that all the stakeholders must be taken on board while formulating the National Economic Policy.
The LCCI office-bearers said that non-traditional sectors, particularly pharmaceutical, engineering and Halal food should be focused to give a quantum jump to the exports. He said that product and market diversification is need of the hour.
They also shed light on the priorities for the ongoing year saying that the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry is focusing both trade and industry.
