Karachi, April 26, 2023 (PPI-OT):The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has expressed displeasure that the government is not putting in serious efforts in promoting the SME sector whereas the challenging situation demands extraordinary efforts to overcome the crisis. President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said the SME sector is unable to import raw material and packing material as banks are not facilitating the SME units due to dearth of dollars.

He emphasized that it is really very disappointing that the ministry of finance did not do its homework as it did not envisage the crisis, they should have arranged for import finance from the exporting countries itself to allow imports on long deferred payments and also arranged funds from different Exim banks of the world to finance the import trade. In other words, the government could not comprehend the matter. The government had no preparatory work they only acted when the issues became very serious.

Secondly they lacked the expertise to invite huge amount of dollars lying in the big and rich businessmen circle through friendly policies.

They also failed to take China into confidence and arrange for imports under deferred payments. Also for oil a similar arrangement was required and every month the government was announcing that next month the oil would be coming. Fortunately, now the order has been placed. There is an unexplained lethargy found in decision making and it seems there is no direction. The trade diplomacy was also found lacking. The political instability unfortunately is taking its toll and here again wisdom is lacking. The suggestion of dialogue by Asif Zardari was welcomed by the business community but needs earnest efforts.

The government needs to work on war footings to overcome the economic crisis by diligent application of mind and consultation with experts of the respective segments. It is indeed sad that the stakeholders are not consulted and decisions are taken arbitrarily resulting in fiasco. UNISAME Council members have urged government to immediately sit with trade leaders of each segment and especially with UNISAME Council and examine each aspect as it is the majority sector which can make the economy vibrant despite the shortcomings.

For more information, contact:

Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME)

75/1 3rd Commercial Street, Phase IV, D.H.A.,

Karachi, Pakistan

Tel: +92-21-35884225-6

Fax: +92-21-35380642

Cell: +92-300-8245307, +92-321-8245307

Email: unisame@gmail.com

Website: http://www.unisame.org/