Call to include chambers in businessmen body
PSX gains 603 points to close at 33,636 points
Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Monday noted bullish trend as KSE 100 index went up by 603.50 points (1.83 %) to close at 33,636.82 points.
A total of 392,157,620 shares were traded compared to the trade of 261,816,440 shares during the previous trading day, whereas the value of shares traded during the day stood at Rs 10.113 billion compared to Rs 7.471 billion during last trading day.
Out of 422 companies, share prices of 321 companies recorded increase, 84 companies registered decrease whereas17 companies remained stable in today's trading.
The three top traded companies were Bank of Punjab with a volume of 39,949,500 shares and price per share of Rs 9.82, Unity Foods Ltd with a volume of 24,708,500 and price per share of Rs 10.20 and KElectric Ltd with a volume of 16,879,500 and price per share of Rs 4.11. The top advancer was Rafhan Maize with the increase of Rs 288.99 per share, closing at Rs 6200 while Unilever Foods was runner up with the increase of Rs 150 per share, closing at Rs 5800.
The top decliners were Philip Morris Pak with the decrease of Rs 159.99 per share, closing at Rs 3040 and Pak Tobacco XD with the decrease of Rs 93 per share closing at Rs 2307.
Like the whole business community, the Pakistan Industrial & Traders Association Front (PIAF) has also appreciated the Prime Minister and the Chief of the Army Staff for holding meetings with the businessmen on financial matters.
It stressed a need for taking all stakeholders onboard including leading chambers and industrial associations, taking their input on key economic issues so that the country could be back on right track of economic growth.
PIAF Chairman Mian Nauman Kabir, in a statement issued here on Sunday, said that the few top business tycoons met recently with Imran Khan and army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa where no representative of any chamber, trade and industrial bodies were present, which represent the SMEs, constituting nearly 90 percent of all the enterprises in Pakistan, employing 80 percent of the non-agricultural labour force; and share of which in the annual GDP is around 40 percent.
He said that the government called only the large enterprises and ignored the small and medium enterprises’ representatives, who are actually constrained by financial and other resources. PIAF strongly believes that SME sector is the backbone of any economy. PIAF chief said that in a country like Pakistan where more than 60% of the population is rural based it is very important to enhance the capacities of rural centric SMEs to help them scale and contribute to the overall economic growth.
Mian Nauman Kabir asked the government to create an enabling environment as per the objectives of the business community, which was imperative for the national development. He said the PIAF was ready to fully cooperate with the government so that country could overcome economic and financial problems.
He lamented that the government does not go beyond verbal assurances, as its words do not match its actions. He appreciated the sincerity, responsiveness and commitment of the Prime Minister but expressed disappointment over the situation, as nothing works on ground.
“It is a right step to establish a committee on directions of the PM for resolution of businesspeople issues and removal of impediments to the economic growth but the committee should also include representatives from premier chambers and associations from across the country,” he demanded.
Mian Nauman Kabir said that government must develop policies conducive for business environment and address genuine issues of the community. He stressed the need for reforming the taxation system by engaging all stakeholders, getting rid of the double taxation system that was hampering the financial activities in the country.
He said that reforms are required growth-friendly policies, re-composition to upgrade taxation and active industrial policies in close consultation with the actual stakeholders to achieve the sustainable development goals.
He welcomed the government efforts to ease current account deficit from 6.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in FY2018 to 4.8 percent in FY2019. The trade deficit narrowed by almost 11 percent to $28 billion as rupee depreciation drove down merchandise imports by 7.4 percent.