Govt moving in the right direction for economic advance, still lacks long-term measures.

Byline: Khalil Ahmed

Must take wise and consistent policies for tax collection, rupee stability and for resources strength

Great CPEC projects help change Pakistan's image in the region and in the world

Interview with Mr Shamim A. Firpo - Chairman, (Firpo Group of Companies)

PAGE: Tell me something about yourself and your organization, please:

Shamim A. Firpo: I started a struggle at a very young age. When I was six-year old, my father died then my mother played a vital role in building my personality and my future. My mother motivated and encouraged me in every walk of life. I am determined and optimist kind of a person and always believe in Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala that He always has good for everyone. As a person, I am very simple and result-oriented. I am also very much interested in social welfare work. In my whole life I have worked hard and made my life as I dreamed. I am a self-made person and I feel pleasure whenever I share my success story with students and young entrepreneurs in mentoring sessions while visiting universities and educational institutes to motivate them.

At a very young age I started my business journey. That was 1968 when I established my food business with the name of Firpo Restaurant at Tariq Road in Karachi. With the blessings of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and my mother's prayers, my business got success and popularity. The name Firpo was so popular that it has become part of my name. I am proud to say that there may be thousands of Shamims but there is only one Firpo, so whenever the Firpo name is taken anywhere across Pakistan, people come to know that it is only Shamim A. Firpo.

After food business, I diversified my business and started trading, import and export business with the name of Sohail Enterprises in 1975. I constantly worked, with the flow of time and my sons joined me in business and Alhamdulillah our business has now converted into Firpo Group of Companies. In 2018 we are celebrating 50 Years Golden Jubilee of our business. If I talk about my business, we mainly deal in auto lamps and auto parts. We are well-known amongst automobile industry in Pakistan. All the top auto manufacturing companies use our bulbs and parts in their vehicles. We are doing our business globally and have established offices in China, Sri Lanka, and Romania. Our working partners are China/Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, USA, Germany, Hungry, UAE, Romania, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Iran and Afghanistan. Firpo is our registered brand name which is known as a name of trust and a symbol of quality in market.

I am also holding different public and private portfolios and also have interest in business politics and have served the business community of Karachi as President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) for the year 2016-17. I am very much satisfied and happy with my life and thankful to Allah SubhanahuTa'ala for giving me this respect and success.

PAGE: How would you comment on the economic condition of Pakistan?

Shamim A. Firpo: In my opinion, the economic condition will be better with the time as the new government has courage to face economic challenges and has full capabilities to meet their goals and fulfill its commitment. The new government is exploring all other opportunities to strengthen the national economy. I must say that they should have come up with more policies that help the country to come out of the present economic condition. As we know that due to the fall in rupee since 2017 the economy is suffering and our forex reserves are under pressure. Although Pakistan's economic growth has soared to nearly 6 percent, the fastest pace in 13 years, the structural problems with the economy are coming to the fore. It is similar to 2013, when foreign currency reserves dwindled and Pakistan narrowly escaped a full-blown currency crisis.

Over the past few months the new government has enacted a series of measures to combat its ballooning current account deficit, including hiking tariffs luxury items and devaluing its currency. In the first quarter of FY 2019, the current account deficit narrowed slightly from the same period in FY 2018...