N H ZUBERI

KARACHI: Representatives of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) have termed the budget for the year 2017-18 as better than the previous four fiscal budgets the incumbent government presented since 2013.

Leader of Businessmen Group and former president KCCI, Siraj Kasim Teli said that finance minister Ishaq Dar announced budget proposals which appears better than all the previous budgets of the present government and that may be due to the fact that general elections are scheduled next year.

“However, final comment on the budget can be made after going through finance bill and budget documents,” he said, adding that the business community had not sent any proposal to be included in the budget, albeit, he congratulated Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on presenting better budget which carries huge incentives for agriculture sector.

“There is no change for tax return filer whereas some increases have been made in taxes for non-tax filers,” he said, adding that the Finance Minister also presented his vision of next five years which indicated that it is budget to have minim impact on general public as the next year is election year.

Replying to a question Teli said he saw no major policy change and no effort was made to reduce cost of doing business in the budget. He said that there is no change in policy on five zero rated sectors.

BMG leader said that Tariff Reformer Commission was established a few years ago. He said that the finance minister announced refund of those who had got RPOs by July 15 and getting RPO is an uphill task.

He said that the finance minister also made similar announcement in last budget and the refund claimant are still running from pillar to post to get refunds. He said businessmen had littlie hope to get refunds on announced date.

Former president of KCCI, Zubair Motiwala said that new taxes have been imposed which would ultimately impact somewhere else. He said that efforts have been made in the budget to have minim impact on general public. “The cost of doing business is higher in Pakistan as compared to its competitors. No effort has been made to reduce cost of doing business,” he said.

He said that some efforts have been made to reduce discriminatory power of tax officers and others which is welcoming efforts.

He said that the government has increased regulatory duty on many items which ultimately have impact on general public.

Motiwala said that the proposed regulatory duty increase may be on luxury items which may have little impact on general public.

On the 6 percent GDP growth target next year, he expressed hope that target may be achieve due to CPEC.

Former president of KCCI, Haroon Agar expressed his dismay over the budget and said it is against the expectation of business community.

“Budget favours certain sectors and ignored some sectors of imports and exports,” he said, adding that the demand of dates and pulses increased tremendously in the month of Ramadan which could not be met from local supply and production and that would have to be imported.

He urged that efforts should be made to increase production of pulses to save foreign exchange. He said Pakistan produces around 500,000 tons of pulses which is insufficient to meet local demand. He said that demand of gas is met through imports which cost around Rs 10 billion.