Long-term policies indispensable for economic growth: Governor Sindh

Governor Sindh Kamran Khan Tessori urged businessmen and industrialists to prepare long-term economic plans and policies for sustainable economic development.

Speaking as a chief guest at the Federal B Area Association of Trade and Industry (FBATI) here on Tuesday, he said that stakeholders from the private sector should suggest 20-year policies for enhancing exports, industrial production and regional trade with neighbouring and friendly countries.

The socio-economic situation is challenging in the country, our next generation will only be going to handle the future properly if we address them now, he said and added. The urgent issues should be resolved immediately, along with long-term economic plans.

We have various issues of industries and we have to resolve them with a definite solution to lead our journey towards economic development. Apart from financial stability, our country needs to be stable in terms of security. At the same time, an empowered and effective local bodies system is required to address the public issues related to infrastructure and essential utilities, Governor said.

He assured that he would discuss the issues of industrialists with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

President FBATI Syed Raza Hussain said industries face multiple challenges in Karachi, which may ultimately drag them to closure.

Electricity prices have skyrocketed in recent months as the FCA is being charged heavily from consumers of Karachi as compared to different cities. The pending incremental benefit of Rs. 33 billion has not been passed on to industries of Karachi due to disagreement between the power utility and regulator, he added. This power subsidy will give a great sigh of relief to industries of Karachi.

The water is unavailable in different industrial zones, adding fuel to the fire; the provincial government also introduced taxes on subsoil water, and the cost of production also shot up, President FBATI added.