The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Wednesday urged the government to prepare a new policy in consultation with the private sector to effectively control the widening trade deficit and increase exports. LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said here that the government should ban unnecessary import of luxurious items, adding that increase in trade deficit would have dire consequences for country’s economy therefore all future trade policy initiatives should be taken while keeping in view this problem. At the same time, he said, the government should also facilitate exporters and implement all trade facilitations in letter and spirit enshrined in trade and textile policies. Pakistan cannot sustain a high and growing trade deficit therefore the trade should be developed in close coordination with chambers of commerce. The chamber’s president said growing trade deficit, led by 4.7 percent decline in exports, was posing a key challenge to macro economic stability of the country, besides converting it into a consumer society. Trade deficit and inflation might dent country’s debt payment capacity that was not good for overall economy. He said apart from cutting the cost of doing business in Pakistan, the government would have to evolve a long-term strategy to make its products attractive in the global market to increase its exports. Irfan Sheikh suggested the departments concerned to join hands with private sector for finding out a methodology to scale up exports’ graph that was a prerequisite to control trade deficit.
