Best Key Lies in Increasing Exports, Allowing Imports of Raw Materials for SMEs - Press Release issued by Union of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Karachi -- January 26, 2023 (PPI-OT)

Following is the text of press release issued by Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME)

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The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has invited the attention of Naveed Qamar federal commerce minister to the fact that imports and exports are like warp and weft of an economy and both considered favourable when more or less equal. If import of essential raw material is discouraged or curbed it will reflect on exports.

President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said Pakistan is an import economy and imports raw materials, packing materials, machinery and parts, solar panels, chemicals, medicines and almost everything under the sun. He lamented that in all these years inspite of the fact that we are an agricultural country having many crops, vegetables, fruits, we have poultry, dairy, livestock, we have 4 seasons, rains, sunshine and consider ourselves a blessed country and truly are but unfortunately we do not have political and trade leadership and we never focused on industrialization and not even agro based industries to the extent we should have done.

We never understood what productivity means and wasted time energy and money. He regretted that we kept importing non essentials, luxury cars and shamefully even jams jellies and marmalade and wasted valuable foreign exchange. Today we are in dire need of foreign currency and as a consequence of our own foolishness and easy life we have become dependents and are in huge debts sadly.

The UNISAME Council members pointed out that other factors are corruption, inefficiency, wastage of energy, water, food and above all time. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had to curb imports and now is only allowing bare necessities and this state of affairs might last till we increase our exports and our overseas Pakistanis, friendly countries and of course IMF bails us out till then all imports will be tailored and there will be closure of industries and unemployment and depreciation of rupee.

The UNISAME experts suggested that we need to ask for suppliers' credit facility from China and other countries on whom we depend for chemicals, plastic granules, oil, machinery and parts and especially Japan for machinery and automobile engines to keep our industries functioning. The Exim Bank...