There is no denying that currently our country is faced with unprecedented economic crisis. Though the goverments claims to be making a difference, but the ground reality beies the Govt claims.

There is a little bit improvement, but the road ahead is very bumpy and requires careful planning and strategies on part of the government. In such a situation the formation of economic think tank is welcome move. Think tanks play an important role in the development and economic prosperity of the country. These economic think tanks consist of professional researchers and economists who present important suggestions to the government for the country’s economic policies based on research.  Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) is well aware of this fact and welcomes all research on economic front as it helps in business and industrial planning.

Recently, the National Economic Think Tank (NETT) was established at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries in Karachi, in which former Federal Minister for Commerce Gohar Ijaz and Patron-in-Chief of United Business Group SM Tanveer are playing important roles. Former Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar has been nominated as the President of the think tank, former Finance Minister Dr. Shamshad Akhtar as the CEO and prominent industrialist and businessman Bashir Jan Muhammad as the Chairman.  The think tank will have 40 experts from different fields to give suggestions for implementing “Pakistan Vision 2030”, which aims to take the country’s exports to $100 billion with an annual growth rate of 10 percent. In this regard, recently, the chairman of the think tank, Bashir Jan Muhammad, hosted a dinner at his residence in Karachi, in which prominent businessmen, exporters and investors of Pakistan were invited and the details of the think tank were shared.  Gohar Ijaz said that the biggest obstacle in our economic development is the lack of continuity of policies, due to which our exports have barely reached $23 billion to $27 billion in the last 11 years. If we had followed the target of 10 percent annual growth in exports, our exports would have been at least $60 billion today. Former Prime Minister Anwar Kakar and Gohar Ijaz shared the details of their visits to China and Saudi Arabia to increase exports.

SM Tanveer expressed his expectation that the cancellation of 5 IPP contracts and the transfer of 18 contracts on Take & Pay basis will reduce electricity prices in the future.  In this regard, on December 13, in the National Assembly session, a group of businessmen have said that they came to know  that the cancellation of only 5 IPPs will save the government Rs. 411 billion for the remaining period.  Former Finance Minister and former Governor State Bank Dr. Shamshad Akhtar said that the mission of the think tank will be to propose independent public-private partnerships and investment-friendly policies on national issues, while the chairman of the think tank Bashir Jan Muhammad called the think tank established in the federation, which will consist of professionals and researchers, as the need of the hour.  On this occasion, industralists and businessmen suggested to the organizers of the think tank that they are ready to associate the members of the assembly of the parliamentary groups of different political parties with the think tank of the federation, which will help in making legislation in the parliament and implementing it by the government.At present, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce (OICCI), American Business Council (ABC) are the major private sector organizations in the country that are representing the private sector.  

FPCCI is the apex body of the country with 283 trade bodies and chambers members, including 72 chambers, 159 associations, 29 women’s chambers, 16 small traders, and it is the representative body of the business community of Pakistan and plays the role of a bridge between the business community and the government.  In addition, OICCI, which includes more than 200 companies of foreign investors from 30 different countries, of which 51 companies are listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange and are earning excellent profits.  These companies pay one-third of the total tax. In third place is the American Business Council (ABC), which represents American companies in Pakistan. If you compare FPCCI with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI), then FICCI's organization FRAC has hundreds of PhDs and researchers engaged in research and development on important sectors and is presenting important suggestions to the government and FICCI through regional and global research,plays an important role in every policy-making of the government, whereas in Pakistan, for the last few years, there were almost no PhDs and researchers in the R&D department of the federation. But now, after the establishment of the National Economic Think Tank, it is hoped that this important think tank will be in a position to present suggestions to the government on the requirements of the coming time, which include circular debt, IPPs, IMF agreement, tax reforms, domestic exports, privatization of loss-making government institutions, prevention of smuggling, reforms in the agricultural, real estate, construction and mining sectors, bankruptcy laws, new investment and free trade agreements and review of previous FTAs, climate change, special economic zone policy and foreign investment.  These are important issues for which the FPCCI’s National Economic Think Tank will have to come up with practical suggestions and recommendations based on research.

In the American Business Council’s annual survey, 71% of companies expressed concern about Pakistan’s image and business climate, while 79% of companies described the current challenges facing the country as obstacles to new investment. Industralists suggest that the National Economic Think Tank contact all political parties and agree on an “Economic Charter” so that the continuity of the country’s economic policies can be maintained in the future, which is the biggest obstacle to the promotion of new investment in the country.