ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Revenue Haroon Akhttar Khan on Tuesday said the government was committed to provide an enabling environment to business community.
Now the situation had totally changed since 2013 when the present government came into power, as it did achieve the goal of peace, and better law and order in the country, besides political and economic stability, he said addressing a pre-budget seminar “Budget for Export Growth” here as chief guest.
The seminar was organized by the Ministry of Commerce. Haroon Akhtar said the government had successfully conducted operations against terrorists and other anti-state elements and restored peace in Karachi, Balochistan and other regions of the country.
“We have achieved microeconomic stability and now priority of the government is to fully facilitate exporters for enhancing the country’s exports,” he remarked. He said international financial institutions and rating agencies, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Bloomberg had acknowledged Pakistan’s economic growth.
Haroon said the fiscal deficit had already declined to 4.4 % from 8.8 % % and it would further reduce to 4.1 % during the next fiscal year.
The Special Assistant said by 2018, 10,000 MW more electricity would be added to the national grid system and the total power generation would 25,000 MW by 2025, which would help meet the requirements of the industrial sector. He said the government had brought down the electricity tariff and also reduced load-shedding.
Haroon said some $ 57 billion would come as foreign investment in the country during next six years in different sectors. The government, he said, had zero rated tax for five sectors by providing a subsidy of Rs 45 billion, he added.
It had also given a Rs 180 billion export enhancing package to the textile and other sectors, he said. “We need to improve the tax culture for increasing revenue collection,” Haroon said.
The special assistant assured the exporters to consider their proposals for growth of exports and their incorporation in the next budget.
Earlier, Secretary Commerce Mohammad Younus Dagha, in his opening remarks, said the objective of the seminar was to provide an opportunity to the private sector stakeholders to share their proposals for the public-sector policy makers.
He had visited personally exporters in Karachi and Lahore to get their input for enhancing exports, he added. He said majority of the budget proposals received by the Ministry of Commerce were related to tariff, sales tax refunds and customs rebates, which he himself had taken up with the Federal Bureau of Pakistan chairman.
Dagha said the exporters claimed that stuck-up sale tax refunds were the main reason for decline in exports as the same had affected their liquidity, besides burdening them with bank finances, and their stress was for evolving a mechanism for time-bound processing of refunds.
He, however, added that the Refund Payment Orders (RPOs), which had recently been withdrawn by the authorities because the refund of sales tax on packaging material was claimed contrary to the understanding reached between the exporters and the government at the time of negotiation of Prime Minister’s Package for Exports.
Some exporters also spoke at the seminar and presented proposals, including removal of duty on import of primary raw material and machinery.
Besides high-level functionaries of relevant organizations, including FBR, State Bank of Pakistan, National Tariff Commission and ministries of Finance, Commerce and Textile Industry, representatives of academia, trade associations and chambers, and leading exporters attended the seminar.
