RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Chairman of National Business Group and President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) Mian Zahid Hussain has said that the government should consider the revival of zero-rating for the export sector which will infuse confidence in the exporters which is imperative for the national development.

The government spent 79 percent of total revenue receipts on debt servicing in 2019-20. So far it has secured $26.2 billion loans out of which $19.2 billion were used for debt servicing and this situation is not sustainable.

He said that the agriculture sector also merits some attention as despite being an agricultural country we are compelled to import wheat, sugar, cotton and tomatoes because farmers are being ignored and the incentives for agriculture sector hardly reach to the farmers, he said.

He said government borrowed Rs14.7 trillion in last two years. Foreign debt stood at $95 billion in 2018 which jumped to $113 billion in June 2020 which is a threat to the economic stability.