FAISALABAD The City

‘Entities running in loss burden on exchequer’
From Our Correspondent
FAISALABAD: Economic revival is a joint priority of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), said FPCCI president Mian Muhammad Idrees.
Addressing a dinner in his honour by the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMEA) here, he said that affective representation of the business community in the business-related institutions and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was imperative to achieve the objective. He said that the FPCCI would organise a seminar on economic revival on February 23. As many as 35 leading economists, including Dr Ishrat Hussain, would address it, he added. He called for effective role of the private sector in the economic revival, adding that the public sector entities running in loss had become a burden on the national exchequer.
Speaking on the occasion, MNAs Mian Abdul Mannan and Haji Muhammad Akram Ansari said that on the demand of the business community, the gas quota of a power plant was diverted to the value-added textile sector for 60 days and the period expired on February 9. They said that during previous negotiation nobody visualised the situation and hence the issue was propped up again after the expiry of the gas diversion agreement with the power plant. They, however, assured to resolve the gas issue during the ECC meeting.
Former MNA Chaudhry Sher Ali termed the energy crisis a criminal negligence of the previous governments. PHMEA senior vice-chairman Rana Altaf Ahmad and others also spoke on the occasion.