Interview with Mr. Muhammad Farooq Afzal — President/CEO of ITN Group of Companies
Profile:Â
Mr. Muhammad Farooq Afzal is a dynamic and profound professional in the realm of Textiles, Information Technology, Business Consultancy, Tourism, and Event Management. He is pursuing his entrepreneurial ambitions for the last 22 years, locally & internationally. He has been playing an instrumental role in promoting trade and business ties between Pakistan and other countries since 2004. Farooq has been continuously putting in his multifaceted efforts toward the cause of the promotion of bilateral and multilateral trade. Farooq has also been participating in TV talk shows regularly to speak about the economy and promotion of bilateral and multilateral trade based on the business opportunities lying in respective countries.
Farooq holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from the Philippines and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the University of Sindh, Pakistan. He is also a Doctor of Homeopathic Medicine. He is the Founder and President of Pakistan Turkiye Business Forum, President/CEO of ITN Group of Companies which is involved in textiles, information technology, machinery, event management and general trading and Member Managing Committee of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
PAGE: What is your take on Trade Policy?
Muhammad Farooq Afzal:Â It is unfortunate that for last more than 40 years, our policymakers and the political leadership are not serious about making a trade policy that should have been in place to promote industrialization, services and trade activities in the country resulting in economically progressed Pakistan. This kind of attitude clearly shows that all are not sincere about people and Pakistan. All are more concerned about their promotions and benefits in the respective departments on the bureaucracy level and how to linger on to stay in power on a political level.Â
South Korea took the advantage of the capabilities of renowned Economist Dr. Mehboob Ul Haq and after the implementation of its 1st 7-year plan made by him has become one of the most advanced economies in the world.
Our trade policies have always been made by a lower level of the policy level who just cut and paste from Google and will give it to the concerned minister to announce in a press conference to gain political mileage and show the people and businessmen that they are working.
I have always studied trade policies given by the different political governments but never found any analysis or a comparative analysis of our regional and international competitors where one can think that our trade policies have been made keeping in view the weaknesses and strengths of the other economies or follow the models of the world progressed economies. We need sincere and competent policymakers and visionary leadership to go on otherwise we will never progress.  Â
PAGE: How could Pakistan ramp up its exports?
Muhammad Farooq Afzal: Here I will make the business community, policymakers and political leadership responsible for not making real efforts for the enhancement of exports of Pakistan. All responsible have their focus only on the Western part of the world i.e. Europe and the USA. They do not do any R&D on new International markets such as Russia, South & Latin America, Africa, ASEAN Countries etc. for our traditional products i.e. All kinds of textile goods, leather goods, fruits & vegetables, rice, sports goods, surgical goods and herbal pharma. Then they also do not do R&D on new product development and to innovate which would help to increase our exports. That’s also because of the lack of vision at all levels. Again our export policies have been made as per their wish of them not keeping in view the policies followed by our competitors. Policymakers think of themselves as the only wiser in the world and do not want to learn from our competitors and make such export policies that we can compete and perform better than them.
Our cumbersome and unfriendly export policies will never help us to increase our exports. We have to create an export-oriented culture & atmosphere with motivational policies such as one window operation without red tape for newcomers and existing exporters, restoration of export processing zones with its real spirit, incentives, easy and soft loans, tax rebates and exemptions, market research of existing and new territories with excess reports etc. We have a model of Bangladesh whose exports are $60 billion and out of which, without having cotton there, textiles exports are $50 billion-plus. Have we learned anything from them?   Â
PAGE: Your views on global energy and food crunch?
Muhammad Farooq Afzal:Â Due to the recent Russia-Ukraine war, the whole world has suffered an acute shortage of oil, gas and food in general and Europe in particular which has resulted in unrest all over the world. Russia is the largest gas-producing and 2nd largest oil-producing country in the world. Before the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe used to import 90% oil and 40% gas of its consumption from Russia which has now stopped. Due to sanctions imposed by the UN, USA and Europe, many other countries have stopped buying oil and gas from Russia which has resulted in an acute shortage of both commodities.
Only China and India are buying oil in bulk from Russia. Due to abnormal hikes in oil and gas prices globally, the cost of production of the products has been increased that unable to afford to sell and buy at the consumer level. The same is with the food. Russia is the 3rd largest grain-producing country and Ukraine is the 9th largest grain-producing country in the world. Due to war and sanctions on Russia, the supply chain has been damaged a lot and the world is suffering the same. Like oil and gas, due to fewer supplies of food, prices have gone up all over the world. If this war and sanctions continue then there is the possibility that hundreds of thousands of people globally will die due to hunger. To lift the sanctions, the UN, USA and Europe must work hard to settle the Ukraine issue so that war can be stopped. Â
PAGE: How would you comment on recessionary pressures in Europe and spillover effects on Pakistan’s economy?
Muhammad Farooq Afzal:Â Well, as mentioned earlier that due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, the whole world is suffering from a shortage of oil, gas and food. Since Europe does not produce much and has relied on the supply of oil, gas and grains from Russia as well as Ukraine for grains, therefore to fulfill their needs, they have to buy those commodities from somewhere else at much higher prices resulting in high production costs. This has increased inflation even in some countries by more than 50%. Living has become very hard there. As a natural fact, people are more concerned about the need for food and shelter.
Pakistan’s exports (mainly garments, bedding, towels, socks, sports goods, leather goods etc.) to Europe are about $8 billion, which is now being decreased due to high inflation where EU people have set their priorities to focus more on food and shelter. Therefore, I expect that in the coming months our exports will be decreased drastically and I am afraid that more factories will be closed. This will create a big chaos in the country and will have many adverse effects on our economy. We are already in shortage of foreign exchange and a decrease in exports will add fire to it. Had we developed other markets we would have not faced such issues. This is unfortunate that due to ill trade and export policies we will suffer a lot and I don’t see good days for Pakistan’s economy.