Fixed tax for commercial importers demanded. Steel industry, fertilizer distributors and dealers should be supported. Petrol price hike to result in inflation, hit exports.

(June 29, 2020)

President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel Sr. Vice Chairman, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said continued economic downfall since two years and virus has damaged all the sectors of the economy including commercial importers who are expecting some kind of relief.

Imports have been made difficult for the businessmen which is resulting in a shortage of raw material for pharma, textile, chemical, steel, scrap and may other sectors, therefore their problems should be resolved.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that industrial raw material is now regarded as finished goods to attract additional tax at import stage which is unjustified and indifferent attitude.

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the fixed tax regime should be restored for commercial importers otherwise, this sector will collapse creating unresolvable problems.

The former minister noted that many commercial importers have gone bankrupt while others are on the brink while they are facing serious liquidity problems as their capital is stuck locally and abroad due to pandemic.

He said that commercial importers should be given interest and collateral-free loans up to five million rupees so that they can revive their businesses and play due role in national development. The business leader noted that apart from the manufacturing sector, the export sector is also facing a shortage of raw material which can hit exports and result in unemployment.

The NIC condition has damaged businesses beyond estimates, therefore it should be waived for all sectors including commercial importers, audit should be deferred for one year and the old taxation system for fertilizer distributors and dealers should be restored, he demanded. The condition to deposit 10 percent money in advance before filing an appeal should also be abolished, he said, adding that unprecedented hike in petroleum products will trigger inflation and unemployment and damage the export sector.