ISLAMABAD -  The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Saturday said world’s fifth most populated country Pakistan has all the ingredients to become a leading economic power. All the country needs is to improve some policies hindering growth and pay serious attention to long-awaited reforms, it said.

Our tax system is not well-adjusted therefore it is discouraging investment, it is impeding distribution of wealth which is shrinking the middle class and increasing poverty, said Atif Ikram Sheikh, chairman FPCCI Regional Committee on Industries. Loans, trade deficit, and current account deficit have reached to new proportions, which is highly worrying, he added.

Atif Ikram Sheikh said that our economy is contracting while the regional countries continue to grow as the Bangladesh’s per capita income is now more than Pakistan’s. Pakistan’s per capita income stands at 1470 dollars while the per capita income in Bangladesh is 1538 dollars.

The business leader said that presently Pakistan’s exports are around 20 billion dollars which were 25 billion dollars in 2011 while Indian exports stand at 270 billion dollars.

We must improve the business environment and reduce the cost of doing business to make our troubled economy viable otherwise the government will continue to get loans to keep foreign exchange reserves in respectable limits but there is a limit to borrowing, he warned.