Businessmen upbeat about army chief’s resolve to revive economy

KARACHI: The business community feels reassured by the assurances reportedly held out by the army chief in his recent meetings with traders that all-out efforts will be made to bring foreign investment to the country and revive the economy.

Appearing in Geo News programme ‘Aaj ShahzebKhanzada Kay Sath’ on Monday, FPCCI President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that the meeting with the army chief is a breath of fresh air. The business community held detailed meetings with the army chief, who spoke with the business community candidly.

He said the army chief told them that $25 billion investment had been discussed with Saudi Arabia, which had assured Pakistan of investment in IT, minerals, agriculture and defence. The army chief told the business community that Mohammad Bin Salman had agreed that of the $25 billion, $10 billion will be kept in the State Bank of Pakistan. This will be returned in the form of the Pakistani rupee or goods so that the foreign exchange could increase.

The army chief said that Mohammad Bin Salman has identified bureaucracy obstacles to investment and called for removing them. The army chief told the business community that we have formed SFIC for doing away with the bureaucratic hurdles. Now nobody could disturb them (DFIC), and nor any bureacrats could undermine them nor would they face any problems with courts. He said the army chief told the business community that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had held out the assurance that each would invest $25 billion, while $25 billion each would come from Qatar and Kuwait.

Sheikh said that the army chief had vowed that the land grabbing mafia and the extortion mafia would be reined in to control corruption. The army chief said that for improving the situation, four task forces are being constituted on the FBR, border control, smuggling and social media. He said the army chief wants to root out corruption. He said the business community had become disappointed but the army chief had given it courage hope.

Speaking to host Shahzeb Khanzada, Business Group Chairman Zubair Motiwala said that every new chief holds meetings with traders.

He welcomed army chief General Asim Munir’s meetings with the business community. He said the body language of the army chief was different this time as compared to his earlier meetings. General Asim Munir went to Saudi Arabia and the UAE for the revival of the economy, and now he plans to go to Qatar and Kuwait.

Zubair Motiwala said the army chief directed the corps commander that not a single litre of Iranian diesel should come to Karachi. The army chief also issued directives for retaking encroached lands, ending corruption and improving law and order. General Asim Munir said in the meeting that only 1.1 registered Afghan refugees can live in Pakistan and the rest of them will have to go back to Afghanistan. The army chief said Mohammad Bin Salman complained about corruption and bureaucracy in Pakistan.

Zubair Motiwala said they discussed the charter of economy with the army chief. He hoped that such a huge investment will bring improvement to the economic conditions in the country. He said they drew the attention of the army chief towards the need for investment.

He said we told him that Rs1,300 billion are going to waste due to state-owned enterprises. He told him that political governments cannot opt for privatization. The army chief said he realized that and the government would not go full-fledge for privatization and would get rid of burden at all costs.