ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has hailed the second supplementary finance bill 2019 presented by the PTI government as it has offered good benefits to SMEs, industry, agriculture and capital market that would spur the growth of these important sectors of the economy.
Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that the new mini-budget has either removed or reduced customs duty on industrial inputs covered under 53 tariff lines, additional customs duty on industrial inputs covered under 22 tariff lines, regulatory duty on industrial inputs covered under 30 tariff lines and RD on smuggling prone items effective from 31st March 2019 that would reduce the cost of doing business and accelerate the growth of manufacturing activities.
ICCI President said that government has taken a good step for ease of doing business by allowing the businesses to file biannually withholding tax statements instead of filing them every month which was a great hassle. He said that government also reduced income tax rate from 35% to 20% on income of banks arising from loans to micro enterprises, SMEs, agriculture and low-cost housing finance which was laudable as it would help the banking sector to extend more credit to SMEs for business expansion. He said that withdrawal of withholding tax on banking transactions of filers was also a positive step as it would provide them good relief. He hoped that these good measures would reduce the cost of doing business and accelerate the growth of agriculture business and industrial activities in the country.
Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President ICCI said that providing five-year exemption to industrial undertakings set up between 1st March 2019 and 30th June 2023 for manufacturing of equipment used in generation of renewable energy was a commendable step as it would be helpful for producing cheap renewable energy for industry and consumers. They said that giving sales tax exemption on imported plant and machinery for greenfield industries would encourage greenfield investment and industrialization.
They said that billions of rupees of exporters were stuck up with FBR in refunds, which was causing liquidity problems for them and it was encouraging that the government has allowed issuance of promissory notes to claimants of refunds at their option that would help in resolving this longstanding issue. They hoped that the economic reforms measures taken in the second supplementary finance bill would go a long way in promoting market capitalization, industrialization and investment leading to early recovery of the overall economy.
