RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) has lamented on the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Ministry of Finance and Commerce for not taking stakeholders on board prior finalizing the Fiscal Budget 2019-20.
The RCCI President Malik Shahid Saleem said in a statement that it was the first time that government authorities have not involve key stakeholders in consultation process.
A media briefing will be given on Monday June 10 on the concerns and next line of action on given situation prior budget 2019, he added.
The rise in petroleum prices has pushed Consumer Price Index (CPI) into double digit which high in last 7 years. We already suffered through uncertainty for the last 18 months and business community assessing major blow to manufacturing sector due to high tariff in power and gas sectors.
He said RCCI in the first week of April had already submitted a set of proposals for consideration and incorporation in the federal budget 2019-20.
We were expecting that FBR and finance ministry will reach chamber of commerce and other key stakeholders for budget preparation and finalizing the key proposals but it seems that the fiscal budget will be presented without input from the stakeholders.
RCCI President informed that the chamber has in its proposals to FBR would help increase economic activity, incentives for manufacturing and SMEs and widen the tax net thereby increasing the government revenue. The proposals had been categorized into income tax, sales tax and custom duties with special focus on the documentation of the economy.
