Package demanded to revive employment promotion business
Karachi (Pakistan Point News - 26th July, 2021) Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said COVID-19 pandemic has delivered a hammer blow to overseas employment promoters and the people seeking jobs overseas.
It has also damaged the business of overseas employment promoters bankrupting majority of the promoters therefore government should announce a package for this critical sector, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that overseas employment promoters should be re-energized so that they can export manpower which will reduce unemployment and help the country earn foreign exchange.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the world is returning to normalization due to vaccination which will result in demand therefore the government should help employment promoters and give them the status of an industry.
He said that the current government has helped many sectors of the economy but ignored promoters as the majority of them are unable to pay office rent and staff salaries, therefore, they should be given interest-free loans.
Many people seeking employment in foreign countries are held back by pandemic, many could not return due to restrictions while a sizable number has lost jobs.
He noted that overseas Pakistanis remitted 29.
4 billion dollars during the last fiscal which helped government overcome financial problems while the remittances could be increased substantially if an enabling environment is provided to employment promoters.
The business leader noted that it is the private sector which sends the majority of people abroad which should be facilitated, adding that the efforts of State Bank in this regard are laudable.
The central bank should redouble efforts to increase remittances to fill the current account gap as foreign investment has always remained below expectations in the country, he said.
