ISLAMABAD: Former President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Dr. Shahid Rasheed Butt on Saturday said budget is encouraging for masses and the business community but discouraging for the IMF.
Developmental spending has been increased by 40 percent which will trigger growth and create employment opportunities, he said in a statement. “Taxes have been reduced on manufacturing and financial services, the minimum wage has been increased by 20 percent while government servants will see a rise in salary by ten percent,” he added.
Butt said that the wage and salary raise will force the private sector to increase salaries which is a good omen. “The industrial sector will grow due to tax and Customs duty relaxation which will benefit sectors like textile, paper and board, pharmaceutical, steel, paints, chemical, leather, electronics, cable, fiber, optics, and automobile sector.”
He said: “The budget may trigger local manufacturing of automobile and mobile phones and increase investment in the stock market due to tax breaks, he observed. Despite agreement with the IMF, the tax target has been reduced by Rs134 billion while IMF was assured to keep subsidies up to Rs530 billion but Rs682 billion have been allocate for subsidies in which the power sector will eat up Rs 596 billion.”