The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Regional Chairman and Vice President Ch Arfan Yousaf Wednesday said the government should have increased/imposed taxes and duties on luxury items instead of raw materials and the capital goods not being produced locally.
In a reaction to the amended Finance Bill 2018 for remaining months of the financial year, the FPCCI office bearer asked the government to take concrete measures against the smuggling of goods into the country. The massive increase in the gas tariff would hurt the exports as it would jack-up the cost of business manifold. Such anti-business measures would hamper the growth of the manufacturing sector, he added.
He termed it a moderate budget as it would generate additional revenue for the cash-starving country for economic recovery. However, he argued that the reduction in public sector development programme from Rs 725 billion to Rs 475 billion would hurt the development of infrastructure projects, a pre-requisite of industrialization.
He also appreciated the government moves to ensure uninterrupted supply of fertilizer to the farmers at an affordable rate for which a subsidy of Rs 6 to 7 billion has also been approved. He also hailed the government's decision to absorb the impact of increase in petroleum levy from Rs 185 billion to Rs 300 billion and not passing the same to the masses.