KARACHI: The federal budget for fiscal year 2017-18 announced on Friday by Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar `seems to be an initiative to give relief to the common people to some extent’.
`It may be called a balanced budget for the economic revival and to resolve energy crises, investment promotion and to boost agriculture production’, remarked Ismail Suttar, President, Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He opined on Saturday that more steps are required to ensure industrial growth and to address the difficulties to achieve export target. Suttar was of the view that concrete steps should also be undertaken for the promotion of hydel power generation to take advantages of hydel power potential in the country.
He maintained that big volume debt is also a burden on the economy for which Rs 1,400 billion have been allocated for debt servicing. This amount should have been spent on the infrastructure development of the country.
The reduction of duty and taxes on various machinery and industrial items would however leave positive effects on the industry to some extent `but cannot be termed as incentive’. He also appreciated the measures taken for the agriculture growth.
