KARACHI: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said on Tuesday
foreign loans come with strings as lenders’ conditions infringe upon
national sovereignty.
If a nation has a choice, then it
should opt for increasing exports by promoting the indigenous industry
and making it competitive, he said while addressing the 41st Export
Awards ceremony of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FPCCI).
“I’d suggest that if we have a choice
between exports and foreign loans, then we should go for the former in
order to safeguard our sovereignty,” he maintained.
He
said it was easy to get foreign loans. But when the payback time comes,
it is always difficult to dish out funds to even pay the interest, leave
alone the principle, out of scarce resources, he said.
Mr
Rabbani said global lenders always impose conditions that infringe upon
national sovereignty. They also try to influence the system, he said,
adding that countries like Pakistan give away a portion of their
sovereignty in the process.
Responding to the issue of
the Engineering Development Board (EDB) raised by business leader
Iftikhar Ali Malik, the Senate chairman said he would ask the relevant
standing committee of the upper house to take it up with the government.
Mr
Malik complained that the government has made the EDB ineffective,
hurting local auto vendors. He suggested that the government should
promote import substitution and encourage balancing, modernisation and
renovation of sick industries.
FPCCI President Zubair
Tufail expressed his concerns about the widening trade gap, saying
Pakistan exported goods worth $20 billion against imports of $52bn in
the last fiscal year. This situation is likely to deteriorate further
because imports are expected to swell to $60bn by June 30, 2018 while
exports cannot be more than $24bn, he added.
FPCCI former
president S.M. Muneer said the balance of trade would not improve
unless Pakistani exporters get a level playing field. He said the high
cost of doing business has crippled the country’s export sector and made
industrial activity unviable.
