Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) giving its reaction to the Federal Budget 2021-22 has termed it as a balanced budget as it is expected to set the economy in the right direction enabling it to achieve better growth and expansion.
President ICCI Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that the government has accepted many proposals of the major chambers of commerce & industry, which was encouraging.
He said that the future progress and prosperity of Pakistan depended on promoting industrialization and it was encouraging that the government in the budget has reduced customs and regulatory duties on the import of raw materials and goods for many industries.
Reduction in tax liability by 25% for women entrepreneurs was a welcome move, he said and urged that the government should have considered similar relief for SMEs for their better growth.
The ICCI President lauded the reintroduction of the self-assessment scheme for taxpayers as it would give them more confidence and improve tax revenue.
He said that deletion of 12 withholding taxes in the budget was a positive move as these taxes were putting extra burden on the taxpayers.
However, he stressed that the government should have introduced a 2 percent fixed tax scheme for traders to realize the actual tax potential of the country and promote a documented economy.
He stressed that the government should take the business community on board and address all their concerns for installation of an additional 0.5 million POS on businesses in the country. He said that high power tariffs in Pakistan were a major cause of high cost of doing business and the government should have reduced power tariffs in the budget to make our industry more competitive for exports.
He hoped that this budget would be helpful in further accelerating the pace of economic activities in the country.
Chairman, Founder Group Mian Akram Farid termed the overall budget as positive. However, he said that the government should have announced some incentives in the budget to attract more FDI in the country. He said that Pakistan has the potential to increase its IT exports up to USD 8-10 billion for which more concessions for IT industry and e-commerce were needed.
