Karachi, September 24, 2018 (PPI-OT): An emergent meeting of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) was held simultaneously at Federation House Karachi (Chair), Regional Office Lahore and capital office Islamabad through video link to considered the fiscal measures of the finance supplementary (amendments) Bill 2018 as announced by Mr. Asad Umar, Finance Minister on 17th September 2018 for rest of the three quarter of ongoing fiscal year 2018-19.
The meeting chaired by Mr. Waheed Ahmad Acting President FPCCI, was largely attended by the members of the business community notably among them were Mr. Iftikhar Ali Malik, Senior Vice President SAARC CCI and former President FPCC, Mr. Zahid Saeed and Saeeda Bano Vice Presidents, Mr. Shakeel Dhingra and representatives of textile, plastic, automobile, real estate, pharmaceutical, agriculture, service and energy sectors.
The members were of the view that the Federal government should have taken FPCCI and other stakeholders on board before announcing the supplementary Finance Bill. They lamented the recent increase in gas prices and urged to bring the utility rates at par with the regional competitor countries such as Bangladesh and India enabling Pakistan to compete to compete with them in the international market thus bridging the yawning trade deficit.
The house also urged the government to announce the road map for the release of all long outstanding refunds –sales tax, DLTL etc. amounting to over Rs300 billion to exporters with in the stipulated time frame. The house also unanimously lamented the proposed measures to allow non-fillers to buy property and vehicles as it would defeat the prime objective of broadening the tax base and incentivize the fillers to become non-filers so that they may not be required to go through the hassle of audit and cumbersome process of filling of income tax returns.
The meeting also resolved that the increase tax rate in the salaried person should be withdrawn and be kept at previous rate as given in the finance act 2018. There was a consensus in the meeting that increase in the tax rate of the salaried class was not justified as this was the only segment of the society which had no choice but to pay the tax as it was deducted from the source.
The House suggested introduction of mechanized agriculture innovative irrigation for better per acre yield and thus could be done by taxing the agriculture sector and investing the amount this collected in research and development of Agriculture in the country.
The house showed concern on reduction in Public sector development programme as it would hurt the industrial infrastructure development programme – a prerequisite for development of industrial sector. The members proposed that budget and economic policies should be made in consultation with the business community, the main stakeholder of country’s economic growth.
For more information, contact:
Secretary General
Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI)
B-1, Federation House, Main Clifton Road,
Shahra-e-Firdousi, Karachi-75600, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-35873691, 93-94
Fax: +92-21-35874332
Email: info@fpcci.com.pk
URL: www.fpcci.com.pk