President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Secretary General of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and Former Provincial Minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Wednesday said Pakistan’s export base is shrinking; therefore, the government should plan to diversify exports.

Increased imports and reduced exports have resulted in record trade deficit which may result in another foreign loan, therefore, serious efforts are needed to boost exports, he said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that exports that were fifteen percent of the economy have gone down to seven percent of the economy due to overreliance on textile sector.

Now, the government should eye 300 billion dollars halal sector which is projected to swell by 100 percent in few years, he added.

He said that government should take steps to reduce the cost of doing business of Rs.750 billion poultry industry and offer it the facility of zero-rating which can help country earn handsome foreign exchange.

The poultry sector is facing issue like taxation, duties on import of inputs, problems in processing and value addition which is currently at five percent only, the influx of cheap poultry products from different countries after FTAs etc.

The Business Leader said that the Russia, Middle Eastern, central Asian countries import around eight billion dollars’ worth of chicken meat while there are over fifty million Muslims in the Europe who prefer halal products which offer a good opportunity for the government to bail out the country from the deficits, balance of payment and other such problems.