Government focusing on exports, tax collection to boost economy, says PM Imran Khan

Prime Minister Imran Khan has underlined that exports and tax collection are the two main driving agents to boost the country’s economy, over which the present government is fully focused.

The prime minister was addressing at an inaugural ceremony of 14th International Chambers Summit 2022 arranged by the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) in Islamabad on Tuesday.

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He said the government was making strenuous efforts to remove all hurdles and bottlenecks faced by exporters, investors and businessmen and to give a spur to the exports industry.

The prime minister said that in the past, no attention was paid to these sectors of the economy which were vital for wealth creation.

He said the exports sector was stagnant in the past, but the incumbent government was providing all facilitation to the exporters and stressed that exporters should be encouraged with awards and other incentives.

He observed that if the country’s exports were not increased, it could again put pressure on the current account and currency.

The summit was being attended by presidents of more than 54 regular chambers, 10 small chambers, 13 women chambers and representatives from the development partners, international business community, political parties, ministries and the government institutions.

The summit will provide an opportunity to the businessmen to seek resolution of their issues besides, presentation of solid proposals to the stakeholders for the formulation of the business-friendly policy of the country.

The prime minister said the government was constantly endeavouring to introduce incentives for ease of doing business and remove all bottlenecks which would help increase businessmen’s profits and develop a tax culture.

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He also termed the introduction of mini-budget as an effort to document the economy. Out of the total estimated Rs11 trillion retail market, only Rs3 trillion market was registered.

The government was also working on full tax automation, he added.

The prime minister said “No government in Pakistan ever faced such big challenges like the fiscal and current account deficits. If our friends, Saudi Arabia and China would not have helped us, we would have defaulted due to our liabilities. We had no reserves to stem the depreciation of rupee.”

He said the country’s economy was going through a stabilization phase, but unfortunately, then came the Covid-19 which posed the century’s biggest challenge.

It was worth appreciable how Pakistan was out of the woods. The government not only saved the economy but also the lives of the people, he said, adding, the pandemic brought havoc across the world. In India, its economy was badly impacted with a huge death toll.

The prime minister further stressed upon developing a tax culture like the Scandinavian countries that have the highest tax ratio.

He observed that tax culture could not evolve in the country as the people were reluctant to pay taxes in the past, due to lack of trust over rulers who spent the public tax money on their luxurious living.

The prime minister recounted that country’s exports for the first time in history reached to $31 billion, remittances recorded $32 billion, tax revenues reached to around Rs6000 billion.

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The prime minister said the expansion of industry was vital for a country’s economy. In Pakistan, large-scale manufacturing (LSM) witnessed a growth by 15 percent. The corporate profits reached Rs930 billion while private sector off-take touched Rs1138 billion. IT sector exports recorded 70 percent increase reaching to about $3 billion, the prime minister said while enumerating the growth of the economy due to the government’s business-friendly policies.

He said the construction sector was also on the boom while the rural agriculture economy earned Rs1100 billion where 60 to 65 pc population of the country was residing. The change in their economic condition could be gauged from the increased sale of motorcycles.

He also assured the participants that all facilities and utilities would be provided for setting up industrial zones along the Rawalpindi Ring Road project.

He informed that the project was in the final stages which was delayed due to corruption that changed its alignment.

He also regretted that any initiatives like this one always drew speculations only for the real estate business, shooting up prices of lands.

He assured that the government would ensure provision of lands on lease at affordable prices to set up economic zones.

Then came the challenge of Afghanistan and the flight of dollars which put pressure on rupee, he further added.

The prime minister said Pakistan had huge potential to excel on the economic front and, in tourism sector alone, they could earn to meet the current account deficit, adding that this sector had brought the biggest revolution in the world.