January 25, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 21, 1423

KARACHI, Jan 24: The government is considering to set up a high-powered ministerial committee to remove irritants confronting trade and industry in general and exporters in particular at various ministries and their departments.

The committee will comprise ministers of commerce, finance and industries and include representatives from the private sector with the objective to sort out issues at different levels and pave the way for early and quick growth in private sector.

This was also hinted by the commerce minister during his last three days’ meetings held in Karachi with various trade groups and bodies who were unanimous in their views that immediate government attention was needed to resolve microeconomic issues.

After attaining economic stability at macro level it was being strongly felt that the government should step up its efforts in resolving issues confronting trade and industry at micro level.

“Without sorting out issues at micro level the stability achieved at macro level after 9/11 could prove to be a short lived and it may even prove to be a bubble economy,” a leading analyst said.

It is more important to address such issues at the earliest when achievement at macro level are attained without a required strength from the micro economy which is usually provides long-term basis for such stability, he added.

Presently the industrial sector is faced with dual problem of compliance, the local as well as global under the WTO regime. Before placing any order, many foreign buyers insisted that their suppliers should be compliant with WTO regime which covers, labour laws, industrial safety and working conditions in an industrial unit.

Besides, such issues the trade and industry is unhappy with the present system of sales tax and feels that it is one of the major tumbling block in their progress and growth. Similarly, the sales tax refund system is so defective that it promotes corruption through fake claims.

However, the most perturbing issue for the industry and export sector at the moment is the rapidly rising utilities cost which is not only crippling the industrial activity but is also making country’s export uncompetitive in the world market, lamented the president FPCCI Riaz Ahmed Tata.

“Our utilities cost is getting out of hand. Every week we read the NEPRA, PTA, OGRA etc., are issuing verdicts in favour of rate increases,” were the views of Ahmed Chinoy, chairman Pakistan Cloth Merchants Association (PCMA), which is the leading export body of textile goods.

How can we continue to do costing when we do not know what would be the utilities rates in the next week or month? he argued. This needs much pondering now, he added.

Another factor disturbing the smooth working of the private sector and exporters is the DTRE rules which failed to click and up to now only 191 exporters or industrial establishments adopted these rules.

It is ironic that after the lapse of over one year the government machinery has ultimately accepted that the DTRE rules have a major flaw and due to this reason the private sector had been reluctant to adopt them.

The business also seeking remedy for the menace of smuggling that has taken on gigantic proportions. The domestic markets are flooded with fabrics, grey as well as processed from China, Korea, Indonesia and Thailand. The PCMA chairman said that these fabrics are brought into the country through Afghan transit trade, or Sust on the Pak-China border, via Dubai or even directly from Far East.