Commerce Desk<\/p>\n
Karachi (June 22, 2026): Mian Zahid Hussain, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) & All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Chairman National Business Group Pakistan (NBG), Chairman FPCCI Policy Advisory Board and Former Provincial Minister of Information Technology, has expressed cautious optimism over positive economic indicators, while warning that Pakistan\u2019s economy is standing at a decisive stage where timely policy action will determine whether the recovery becomes sustainable or loses momentum. He said that the recent rally at the Pakistan Stock Exchange and the rise of the KSE-100 Index to the historic level of 181,000 points reflect renewed investor confidence in the national economy. He noted that the introduction of the T+1 settlement cycle in February 2026 and the ceasefire understanding between the United States and Iran have improved market liquidity and strengthened investor sentiment.<\/p>\n
Mian Zahid Hussain said that inflation rising to 11.7 percent in May and the policy rate remaining at 11.5 percent indicate that pressure on the economy has not fully eased. However, he added that the US-Iran ceasefire has created hopes of lower inflation, reduced energy uncertainty and possible monetary easing in the coming months. He appreciated the performance of Large-Scale Manufacturing, saying that industrial output increased by 6.06 percent in April 2026 on a year-on-year basis, while LSM overall posted 6.44 percent growth during the first ten months of the current fiscal year. This shows that local industry has once again started playing the role of the main engine of economic recovery. He said that the automobile sector, with 64.33 percent growth, petroleum products with 10.04 percent growth and cement with 9.13 percent growth remained the leading contributors to industrial momentum, reflecting improvement in logistics, construction and domestic economic activity. However, he warned that pharmaceuticals and iron and steel products continue to face contraction due to high production costs, which requires immediate government attention.<\/p>\n
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the changes introduced by the FBR under SRO 528(I)\/2026 dated March 19, 2026 in the Export Facilitation Scheme may help curb misuse and tax evasion, but they are also creating serious difficulties for small and medium-sized exporters. He said that linking the duty-free import of raw material directly with previous-cycle utilization and making six-monthly reconciliation statements mandatory will increase compliance pressure and create working capital and liquidity problems, particularly for garment manufacturers and SME exporters. Mian Zahid Hussain also urged the government to revise the SME turnover threshold, which currently stands at Rs250 million, keeping in view the depreciation of the rupee and rising business costs. He said that thousands of genuine exporters may otherwise be deprived of concessional tax treatment and pushed out of formal export activity.<\/p>\n
The veteran business leader described the textile sector as facing a \u201ccompetitiveness emergency,\u201d saying that the sector, which contributes around 60 percent of Pakistan\u2019s exports, is now fighting for survival. He said that textile exports stood at $1.42 billion in March 2026 and readymade garments recorded 9.91 percent growth, but knitwear exports declined by 8.36 percent, showing that the sector\u2019s recovery remains uneven and fragile. He said that Pakistan is already facing a heavy US tariff of 29 percent, which may cause an export loss of around $2.17 billion during the current fiscal year. He warned that the recent India-EU trade arrangement has further weakened Pakistan\u2019s competitive position by reducing the relative benefit of Pakistan\u2019s GSP+ status, putting nearly $9 billion of exports to the European Union at risk.<\/p>\n
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the biggest reason behind Pakistan textile sector\u2019s loss of competitiveness is the unviable cost of electricity and gas. He said that electricity tariffs for industry have reached 13 to 15 cents per kilowatt-hour, including cross-subsidies of Rs7 to Rs9 per unit, making energy costs almost double compared to regional competitors such as India and Vietnam. He said that no export industry can compete internationally when it is forced to buy energy at regionally uncompetitive rates, pay high financial costs and face excessive tax and compliance burdens at the same time. He warned that if the government does not intervene immediately, Pakistan may lose hard-earned export markets to regional competitors.<\/p>\n
Mian Zahid Hussain urged the government to activate the newly constituted private board of the Export Development Fund without delay and use EDF resources for the solarization of textile mills and transition toward cleaner and cheaper energy. He said that the upcoming Finance Act 2026 must rationalize electricity tariffs for export-oriented industries, simplify EFS compliance for SMEs and restore confidence among exporters. He concluded that the stock market rally and LSM growth are encouraging, but they cannot replace export competitiveness. Pakistan needs export-led growth, affordable energy, predictable taxation and practical facilitation for SMEs if it wants to protect jobs, earn foreign exchange and achieve sustainable economic stability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Commerce Desk Karachi (June 22, 2026): Mian Zahid Hussain, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) & All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Chairman National Business Group Pakistan (NBG), Chairman FPCCI Policy Advisory Board and Former Provincial Minister of Information Technology, has expressed cautious optimism over positive economic indicators, while warning that Pakistan\u2019s economy is standing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[253],"tags":[558],"class_list":["post-64048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-mian-zahid-hussain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64049,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64048\/revisions\/64049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyspokesman.net\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}