Consensus economic roadmap: Get all political, economic forces on the same page: FPCCI chief

A political and consensus "Economic Revival Agenda" is imperative to put the country on the road to progress and prosperity, said Mian Muhammad Adrees, President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).
Addressing a pre-budget seminar, organised by Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMA), he said that Pakistan has robust economic ground which was spoiled by undue political interference with negative approach of pressure groups during last two-three decades.
He said that ultimate sufferers of this economic distortion was the people of Pakistan and this situation has also played a pivotal role in destabilising this whole region despite of its huge potentialities.
Continuing, he narrated the economic blunders and follies of the former policy-makers and said that Pakistan once a most vibrant economy of the region has been pushed to the wall and is now fighting for its economic survival with dwindling export of only US $26 billion per annum. He said that economic come back started a few years ago as present regime took over powers and tried to set aright the economic policies. However, the pace of implementation on this agenda is very slow and could not be accomplished within the remaining three years of the present government. Hence, we must formulate a joint economic agenda to gear up pace of economic activity by bringing all political and economic forces on the same page. He said that as the government has shown commitment to fight terrorism by bringing all political forces on one page and successfully launched a joint action plan against the terrorists, we should also try to forge consensus among all political and economic segments by evolving a consensus economic roadmap to lead towards a cherished objective of economic prosperity. He said that once this economic roadmap is finalised, it should not be allowed to be tempered or maligned with undue political interference or negative tactics of the various pressure Groups, he asserted.
Commenting on the implementation of this roadmap, he said that it was possible if all political parties have the common agenda of progress and prosperity as without conducive economic environment and generating economic activity, we could not provide even basic amenities to masses or root out poverty and illiteracy from the country. He was of the opinion that FPCCI and other Chambers are fully agreed to support government in attaining much needed economic stability. Hence, the government should focus on the formulation of a progressive policies and budget with focused approach to cut down cost of doing-business and reigning in the energy crisis that have dampened our economic activities. He said that no doubt long term policies and energy plans are in the pipeline but we need electricity right now to put into motion the industrial wheel that was working with only 30-40 percent of its installed capacity. Therefore, the government should also encourage and facilitate private sector to enter into the energy sector in a big way, he added.
Mian Adrees was critical of the poor infrastructure facilities and said the government should concentrate on facilitating private sector instead of indulging in business itself. He also demanded privatisation of state-owned businesses which have become unbearable burden on the national exchequer.
Mian Adrees dwelt at length the problems being confronted by the business community and said that export performance has declined by 6 percent and the root cause of this pathetic situation is deteriorating law and order situation, energy crisis and minimum availability of credit to the private sector. Similarly, a huge chunk of exporter's finances has also been struck up in refund regime with the FBR, and despite of our best efforts, no positive progress has been made in this direction. The liquidity crunch has played an instrumental role in the poor performance of our export sector.
He said the finance minister should issue a clear-cut directive to his ministry to introduce friendly taxation policies for the industrial and business sectors. He reiterated previous demand of business community of the country that the government should not increase the tax rate but explore ways and means to expand tax base. He said that there was a complete consensus between business community and the FBR that five lac new tax payers would be brought into the tax net to share the burden of existing tax payers. He said that this plan needs a fine tuning and strong will to pick new tax payers in consultation with local chambers of commerce and the regional FBR offices concerned. "It will not only facilitate the government to achieve its revenue targets without creating any harassment among the business community but also lessen burden on the existing tax payers", he added.
He congratulated ICMPA Pakistan for organising such a productive and useful Pre-Budget Seminar.
President FCCI, Eng Rizwan Ashraf, while addressing to the participants of the seminar emphasised structural changes in taxation system to convince people to pay voluntarily their taxes instead of instigating the FBR to take coercive measures. He clarified that the business community is ready to pay its tax obligations but they are shy of the harsh modalities of the system which is tightening noose around the neck of existing tax payers instead of widening the tax base.
He asserted that privatisation was yet another panacea and the government must implement its declared agenda for the expeditious privatisation of the state owned business concerns.
Engr Rizwan was also critical of the energy crisis and said that long term and result-oriented energy plans should be evolved in consultation with all stakeholders with focused approach to provide cheap electricity to the industrial sector. He said that despite of unprecedented decrease in oil price, proportionate decrease in electricity is still awaited. He said that Government should review its existing policies and electricity tariff to bring it at par with the regional economic players.
He also mentioned the rich available asset of human resource and said Pakistan has 60 percent youth of productive age which could prove a game changer if equipped with proper skills and expertise. He said the government should allocate 80 percent of education budget for the technical training and only 20 percent is earmarked for conventional education.
He said that tax formulation was a very ticklish issue and it must be formulated with holistic approach encompassing all segments and sectors. He said that sector-wise potential and receipts must be shared with the Chambers of Commerce concerned to get involved them in tax collection. He said that the sector-specific study should also be conducted to improve tax-to-GDP ratio of Pakistan.
He congratulated ICMA Pakistan for organising very purposeful seminar by involving all stakeholders of the economy.
The Seminar was also addressed by Saeed Ahmed, Deputy Governor, SBP, Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Member Inland Revenue, FBR, Dr Ishrat Hussain, former Governor SBP, Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, Chairman AKD Group, Kashif Mateen Ansari, President ICMA Pakistan, Sohail Pasha, Chairman PTEA, Mian Zahid Anwar, Chairman, Pakistan Agriculture and Dairy Farmers Association, Dr Ikramul Haq and Muhammad Iqbal Ghori, VP, ICMA Pakistan.