Real steps urged to face challenges - Press Release issued by Union of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Karachi -- January 19, 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) convened a meeting of its experts to discuss the financial challenges facing the country and give strong recommendations and suggest measures to the government for consideration and fast track implementation.

President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver welcomed the participants and requested Shaukat Hassan Convener of Finance committee to give first his expert opinion on the strategy which needs to be adopted to overcome the crisis. Shaukat Hassan said at the very outset that the first requirement is of political stability in the country and all political parties must work in this direction to save the country from economic turmoil.

He said, the other steps are: Mobilizing funds from friendly countries;

Requesting overseas Pakistanis to contribute as well. Overseas Pakistanis and foreigners who have ties by virtue of birth and dual nationalities dearly love Pakistan and are keen to see Pakistan growing and financially stable;

Restrict imports of only the very essential goods and raw material be permitted and the import of all non-essential goods must not be permitted. In other words, restrict the imports to the level of exports;

Thaver added that complete austerity must be adopted in all ministries, departments and embassies and consulates abroad.

There is urgent and immediate need to stop wastage of electricity, fuel, food, gas and water by one and all. If necessary strict measures must be taken to implement monitoring and check;

Day time business activities be prompted and close out markets / shops after 7pm / 8pm (across Pakistan);

The other chronic issue is the huge debt burden and in 2023 about 23 odd Billion is due for payment out of USD 90/USD 100 Bn of total debt, large portion of which is due in next couple of yearsa[euro]A|It will be a challenge, rather impossible for any govt to meet these huge debt repayment capacity. Hence it is critically important that the Govt / SBP immediately mobilize its resources and contacts to find ways to spread these debts over longer period.

Through a task force, all Govt owned entities like PIA, Steel Mill, utilities etc. be brought under one umbrella company (Parent Co). If these entities cannot be run profitably then, there should be measures to sell these assets and generate income. However, efforts should be made to...