Country loses export earnings of $356 m in 5 days

Sameer Nazir
KARACHI: Due to one of the longest ever holidays’ spell during Eid-ul-Fitr, the country has remained cut off from outer world the whole week, halting all kind of trade and exports with foreign countries, this was stated by the President Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Ismail Suttar.
He claimed that due to these long and unnecessary holidays country has to suffer an irreparable monetary loss. The President LCCI and Vice President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), while commenting on the long spell of Eid Holidays together with weekly holidays said that due to these nine-day holidays, the industrial and commercial activities were stopped thus rendering heavy losses to the national exchequer, besides no contact with international business community for more than a week, which is not desirable for a country like Pakistan, whose economy is already in oxygen tent. He argued that if taken one day’s exports as $71 million on the basis of Pakistan’s total annual exports of $26 billion, we have lost over $356 million in just five days.
“The government has made it a precedent to declare long holidays just to please government employees who already do not have tendency to work honestly”, Ismail said adding that Pakistan’s bureaucracy is one of the most incompetent and dishonest in the world and the present government should not further encourage to its incompetency.
He also pointed out that due to these long holidays, the public resorted to unhealthy activities causing great losses, as is evident from the incidents at Sea View Karachi and the historic traffic jams at Murree and other big cities.
He urged the power-corridors in Islamabad to refrain from allowing such a long spell of holidays, which the nation cannot afford both economically and socially, as the public resorts to unhealthy practices in the name of entertainment, which the local administrations of big cities are not fully equipped to cope with such abnormal public activity thus causing great losses of life and property.