Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has said that elimination of serious issues like smuggling, which is causing huge loss to the national exchequer, could help reduce dependence on debts that are eating up massive part of the federal budget.
LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad in a statement on Thursday said that government could save huge amount annually through overcoming the menace of smuggling and there would be no need for dependence on loans to meet the budget deficit and country would also have more resources for energy projects, infrastructure, road network, health and education.
He said that smuggling has become a big threat for economic growth. He said that not only the trade and industry is the loser to the smuggling but it is also causing loss of billions to the national exchequer. "Smuggling undermines the local industry, discourages legal imports and reduces the volume of revenues collected from duties and levies at the import stage and taxes collected at the retail stage", he added.
He urged the authorities concerned to stop harassing traders doing business in the markets and establish effective monitoring system at borders to stop illegal trade of merchandise. He said that smuggled goods through the borders of Afghanistan, Iran China, India and the Afghan Transit Trade form a chunk of the informal economy. Sheikh Muhammad Arshad said that smuggling is also encouraged by the large tax and duty rates therefore there is a dire need to bring down the duties and taxes on smuggling-prone items to discourage the illegal trade of goods. He suggested that in order to control the cross border smuggling, scanners and other modern equipment should be installed at the border checkpoints.