A meeting of National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs was held under chairmanship of Qaiser Amed Sheikh at Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI). Addressing the meeting the chairman lauded the hectic effort of President SCCI Majid Raza Bhutta for highlighting the problems being faced by the business community of Sialkot in standing committee meeting held in Islamabad.
Different issues pertaining to problems being faced by exporters and stakeholders with Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), State Bank of Pakistan and National Bank Pakistan were discussed in the meeting. The matters on the issues of differential income tax between commercial and industrial importers and audit criteria defined by the FBR for industries was also discussed in the meeting.
Addressing the meeting President SCCI Majid Raza Bhutta proposed that setting up export promotion councils are direly needed for highly significant sectors. The council's should work under Ministry of Commerce with dedicated budget allocation and power to take action for the betterment of the respective export industry he said. The SCCI President said that the proposed export promotion councils should be established for sports goods and sports wear, leather export development, surgical and dental instruments, software development and technical textiles sectors.
Majid furher informed the meeting that inordinate delay in payment of duty drawback claims, sales tax refunds and income tax has created immense financial crunch for the industry with the passage of time. The burning issue has resulted in severe liquidity and cash flow problems for the exporters of Sialkot and urged the need of early clearance of the claims he added.