Govt urged to accelerate reform process

Business Recorder reported that Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) president Muhammad Ikram Rajput has called on the government to speed up reforms and tackle structural problems facing business and industry on a lasting basis. He listed lower energy costs, higher industrial output, export promotion, a better tax system, more investment and easier doing business as priorities. According to him, such steps would lay firmer groundwork for real and durable economic growth.

Rajput welcomed Moody's decision to lift Pakistan's sovereign credit rating from Caa1 to B3, calling the step a constructive move toward greater economic stability. In his view, the upgrade signalled rising international confidence in the country's economic conditions and fiscal discipline, as well as its capacity to service its borrowings. He also noted that Moody's retained a stable outlook, which he saw as further evidence that the economy is heading in the right direction.

He credited the government's economic policies, reforms and stabilisation measures, along with the work of its economic team, for the improvement. Rajput said the stronger rating could help rebuild investor confidence abroad, draw more foreign investment and ease access to international capital markets. However, he stressed that the gains from stabilisation now need to turn into durable, broad-based growth.