LAHORE – Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce & Investment Abdul RazakDawood link has said that regulatoryduty and additional duty will be abolished on raw materials not producedlocally.
He was talking to the LCCI president Mian Tariq Misbah, senior vicepresident Nasir Hameed Khan, LCCI former presidents Mian Misbah-ur-Rehmanand Ch. Zafar Iqbal during an informal meeting at the Lahore Chamber ofCommerce & Industry. The advisor said that that custom duty on those rawmaterials will also be reduced to make Pakistani products more competitive.
He said that banking agreements with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan are well onthe way. Trade with these countries will be regularized and smooth oncethese agreements are finalized.
Abdul Razak Dawood link said thatcouncils are being established to give quantum jump to the exports ofleather, mango, potato, kinnow and dates. He was optimistic that this stepwould yield good results for the economy of Pakistan. “Prime objective ofthe government is economic stability of the country and all out efforts arebeing made to achieve the desired goal”, the advisor added.
LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah said that the issue of a steep rise intrade deficit needs urgent attention of the government. Our trade deficitin the period July-December 2020 stood at 12.36 billion dollars which isaround 6% higher than the trade deficit of 11.67 billion dollars in theperiod July-December 2019.
Councils are being established to give quantum jump to exports of leather,mango,potato, kinnow and dates
The LCCI president said that the process of refunds for our exporters needsto be streamlined. Recently due to a technical error in the refunds systemwhich resulted in wrong issuance of refunds, notices were issued to themembers of business community and false cases were registered. He asked thePM Advisor to play a supporting role in this matter so that the businesscommunity is not wrongly victimized. Government should focus on fixing thetechnical problems in Sales Tax e-Refund system so that swift andtransparent issuance of refunds to the exporters can be assured.
“To increase our export competitiveness across diverse sectors, theincentives which are currently provided to the export-oriented sectorsshould also be provided to other export sectors e.g. pharmaceuticals, rice,halal meat, engineering etc. The refunds of these sectors should also beprocessed through the new faster system”, Mian Tariq Misbah added.
He said that engineering sector holds great importance in world economy asits share in global trade is around 52%. In Pakistan, however no taxincentives are given to engineering sector. Pharmaceutical sector alsoholds great importance in world economy as its global trade is in excess of600 billion dollars (3% of global trade). Majority of the tax incentives inPakistan are given to textile sector whose share in world trade is justaround 4%.
He said that there is a great need to improve our infrastructure in TestingLaboratories and Standard Certification to enhance our exportcompetitiveness. He said that the rate of 17% Sales tax on the inputs ofvarious export oriented industries is extremely high and needs to bebrought down.