Provincial budget FY23: Business community of KP spells out key priorities

PESHAWAR: With the budget for fiscal year 2023 right around the corner, the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, with the support of FCDO-funded Sustainable Energy & Economic Development (SEED) programme, organized a session that brought together important stakeholders from Peshawar and private sector business community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), aimed at formulating fiscal policy proposals for the upcoming annual budget of the KP government.

This roundtable, arranged under the auspices of SEED and SCCI’s joint initiative, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Business Voice, provided an opportunity for KP businesses to articulate the issues and challenges faced by them, according to a statement issued here on Sunday.

The aim of KPBV is to promote open and strengthened dialogue between the KP leadership and the business community and create synergies between key stakeholders to achieve long-term sustainable growth in the province.

Sarhad Chamber of Commerce & Industry president Hasnain Khurshid remarked on the occasion, “SCCI aims to serve and protect the rights of businesses and the business community in KP. In this regard, it is crucial to ensure that the voice of all private sector stakeholders is included in the development of the annual budget, as the businesses are already suffering due to the economic uncertainties and global crises”.

Welcoming all participants, the SEED team leader Dr Omar Mukhtar Khan noted, “A persistent issue reported by the business community in KP is the lack of meaningful engagement with businesses and industries on the policymakers’ end…”

The session included participants from different regions and areas of the province, including regional chambers, women entrepreneurs, and representatives from manufacturing, tourism, IT, and other industries.

Participants acknowledged the difficult economic times and moderated their suggestions to focus on those which would allow the government to balance budgets, including easing the tax administration to make it more business friendly.

There were a large number of recommendations pertaining to improving the investment climate. Participants felt that there needs to be a consistent economic policy that goes beyond the life cycle of any government, easy loan schemes, implementation of announced policies, decriminalization of genuine bankruptcy, skilled labour especially for the booming IT sector, ease of importing plant and machinery duty free, and ease of moving money across borders, especially for IT businesses.

It was also noted that there should be greater incentive schemes for women-owned businesses.

Speaking at the event, Ali Khizar, Economist KP Business Voice, urged the government to focus on cost & ease of doing business during the upcoming financial year as it offers solutions to many challenges related to the economy.

A representative from the Finance Department, GoKP, added: “The government has been working on facilitating the business community through offering incentives, tax cuts etc., so that they can compete with the world. The State Bank of Pakistan has offered multiple incentives to businesses since Covid-19.”

Participants of the session hoped that this kind of consultations would continue to take place with increased frequency to bridge the gap between the policy makers and managers of the economy, i.e., the business community.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022