Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Chairman Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf has said the federal budget 2005-06 has benefited only a few industries instead of facilitating the whole industrial sectors in the country. Commenting on the budget, Zaka said here on Tuesday the textile sector, no doubt, was an important sector of the economy but it did not mean that other industries were unimportant.
Not a single word has been mentioned about the sugar industry in the federal budget, which showed that government was not interested in ensuring a level playing field for all sectors of industry, he added.
According to him, the government's decision to distribute quota among tractor manufacturers for duty free import of 20,000 tractors was against the policy adopted by the economic managers in case of import of raw as well as refined sugar in recent past.
The government neither consulted nor allocated quota to the sugar industry for the import of raw as well as refined sugar, which clearly reflected Government has ignored the important industrial sector of the country.
He also criticised the government for extending further reduction in corporate tax for banks and said the government was benefiting only to the already benefited sectors, as the banks were already making good profits. He said the government has failed to bring down automobile prices, rather small and medium cars were not being booked by the car companies but were available on black rate.