ISLAMABAD – Special Assistant to PM on Revenue/Federal Minister Haroon Akhtar Khan has said the government is aiming for pro-investment and business-friendly federal budget to boost the economy. He was talking to an Asian Development Bank team led by Pakistan Resident Mission Country Director Ms Xiaohong Yang at FBR House.
The minister said “We are looking into all possible ways to boost the GDP growth and we are willing to work with the industry and all stakeholders to prepare a budget that addresses the major concerns and issues facing the economy, particularly the manufacturing sector which holds the key to developing the country on a sustainable basis.”
Haroon Akhtar Khan said the government had brought down the corporate tax rates from 35 to 30 per cent and had also taken certain other measures to reverse the decline in exports which had started going up since June last year. “We are aware that our manufacturing sector needs to be given more incentives to fuel a broad-based growth and we are working on different proposals to lift this sector and put the country on the industrialization path,” he said.
He told the ADB team that the country had done much better on the revenue generation front where there had been nearly 75 per cent revenue growth accumulatively during the last four years and even for the current year, FBR was maintaining 18 per cent growth. “We are practically taxing only 79 per cent of the economy which brings out tax-to-GDP ratio to almost 16 per cent,” he contended.
Ms Xiaohong Yang said she was happy with the way Pakistani economy had performed during the last four years and the situation required for more incentives and pro-investment measures to strengthen these gains and ensure continuity of growth.
