By
Syed Sajid Aziz
(Pakistan
News & Features Services)
Ismail
Suttar, Vice President, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and
Industries (FPCCI) and President, Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(LCCI), has declared the federal budget 2014-15 as a difficult one but the
incentives offered to the export sector was a welcome step which could help in
accelerating exports from Pakistan.
He said that like the previous governments, this one too has refrained from taking
revolutionary steps like imposition of income tax on agriculture sector and
bringing big fishes into the tax net or even taking measures to prevent major
tax evasions.
He
remarked that the government, instead of scrapping Benazir Income Support
Scheme, has not only extended it but increased the allocations from Rs75
billion to Rs114 which could be utilized in some productive schemes such as
microfinance to the poor instead of turning them into beggars.
Ismail
Sattar expressed his dismay over skipping proposed Hub Dry Port from the PSDP
as demanded by the industrialists of Balochistan.
He
opined that the budget outlay was quite complicated and it seemed that the government
would have to depend on external resources than the internal ones in order to
meet the budgetary allocations.
The Chairman of the Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) South Zone, Fawwad Jawed, reckoned that the budget announced by the federal minister for finance was quite balanced one and full of incentives to the business communities especially the export
sector. He also welcomed the establishment of Exim Bank and reducing the export
refinance rate.
The
Chairman of the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters
Association (PRGMEA), South Zone, Arshad Aziz, praised the incentives given to
the exports sector in the Budget 2014-15 wherein a four percent duty drawback
is offered to the garments sector.
He
stated that the establishment of Exim Bank was also a long time commitment by
the exporters and hoped that it would be fulfilled this time. He hoped that
government would clear all the pending claims of refunds as committed by the
minister in his speech.
The
President of the All Karachi Industrial Alliance, Mian Zahid Husain, while
welcoming the federal budget has declared it business friendly.
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