Govt striving to strengthen national economy on sustainable basis: Finance Minister

KARACHI: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday said that the federal government is striving to strengthen the national economy on a sustainable basis with focus on promotion and diversification of exports, attracting foreign investment in export-oriented sectors and expanding the tax base.

The minister made these remarks during a meeting with representative of Trade and Industrial community at Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) here on Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Qaiser Sheikh, Minister of State for Finance, Revenue and Energy Ali Pervaiz and Chairman FBR Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwana.

The government finance team apprised the business community about the government’s strategy as well as measures taken for dealing with the economic woes of the country and listened to issues confronted by the business community.

They stressed the business community to contribute in the government’s efforts aimed at economic stabilization and also assured of extending every possible assistance to do away with issues faced by trade and industrial sectors.

The minister underscored the significance of expanding and diversifying exports for sustainable economic growth  and creating fiscal space to facilitate all the sectors of the economy and provide relief to the masses. He assured that available fiscal space would be utilized to provide relief to the masses.

He said that Macroeconomic initiatives affect the overall national economy and multifaceted measures taken by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for economic stabilization and fiscal consolidation were leading to macro-economic stability of the country and it was also reflected by the upgraded rating of Pakistan by an international rating agency recently.

The minister termed SBP’s recent decision of slashing down the policy rate as a step in the right direction and said that the government intended to keep the real interest rate in positive domain.  Deciding about the policy rate was prerogative of the central bank and we hope that it will keep taking appropriate steps in future as well, he added.

Stressing on the need to increase financing to agriculture, information technology and SME sectors, the finance minister said that agriculture and IT sectors had remarkable contribution in exports during the previous fiscal year and exports of both the sectors could further be enhanced.

Aurangzeb while emphasizing on expansion of tax base, enforcement of tax laws and restoring trust on taxation authorities said that all the segments of the economy have to contribute in the efforts in this regard as the entire burden of taxes could not be put only on salaried class and trade and industrial communities.

The finance minister highlighted the initiatives for rightsizing of the federal government to curtail the current expenditure and informed that an in depth analysis of federal ministries and institutions was being carried out. The right sizing will be done in a gradual manner and some entities will be merged while some others might be abolished, he added.

Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Qaiser Sheikh, at the occasion, said that following the PM’s directives his ministry has ensured opening of shipping companies’ offices to facilitate the business community while wharf charges at Port Qasim were reduced by 50 percent.

He said that export-led growth was the key to development of different advanced countries. He also appreciated the interaction of the government’s finance team with the business community and hoped that it would prove beneficial.

Minister of State Ali Pervaiz, addressing the business community PML-N led government  had attached the top most priority in the budget 24-25 to economic stabilization and stringent measures were taken.

The measures have started giving positive results as inflation was decreasing, exchange rate was stabilizing, stock market was on an upward trajectory and foreign investment started pouring in, he remarked and vowed to take the initiative further.

He said that despite financial constraints PM Shehbaz Sharif was committed to alleviate hardship of vulnerable segments of the society and allocation of BISP has been enhanced in the budget while allocations were also made for power subsidy and cross subsidy.

The government was also working on strategies for enhancing exports to GDP ratio, automation of ministries and public sector entities, refinancing and trade facilitation as well as rationalization of energy tariff and tax rates, he said and added that a clear time frame was conveyed to FBR regarding disposal of refund and draw back claims.

Chairman FBR, at the occasion announced that the last date for biometric verification of tax payers has been extended to August 31, 2024. He informed that field formations of FBR were given 90 days time to dispose of refund claims.

He said that the law ministry has drafted the regulations for investigative audit on directives of parliamentary standing committees. The purpose of the audit was controlling tax frauds, he said and added that no complaint of misuse of the audit was reported so far, he added.

CEO Trade Development Authority Pakistan Zubair Motiwala lauded fiscal measures of government and said that CAD and exchange rate had improved and stock market was showing remarkable performance.

He welcomed new visa policy and rate cut by SBP and said that it will help in efforts for economic stability.

He presented demands of trade and industry and said that SRO 350(I) should be revoked and final tax regime and Export Facilitation Scheme should be revived.

President KCCI Inftikhar Ahmed said that PM Shehbaz Sharif always attached importance to point of view of business community. He hoped that all the issues faced by business community would be resolved amicably under the guidance of PM Shehbaz Sharif.