(October-02-2024)
The Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board and National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, as well as former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain, said on Wednesday that the country’s economy is becoming stable day by day due to the support of the government and SIFC.
Exports, remittances, foreign exchange reserves, and investor confidence are increasing while inflation, interest rates, and unemployment are decreasing, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the rupee’s value is stable, and fears of a drop of up to Rs 75 per dollar have died down.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the stock market is growing rapidly, which is a positive sign.
The business leader stated that it is now necessary to address the FBR’s revenue shortfall. Authorities should accept the challenge of reducing the size of the undocumented economy.
He claims that the IMF has indicated that the GDP rate will be higher than three percent and that lowering electricity prices to nine cents and the markup rate to a single digit is necessary to increase Pakistan’s exports and reduce the trade deficit.
He pointed out that since increased tax collection will lessen the debt load, all stakeholders must join hands to shrink the undocumented economy.
According to Mian Zahid Hussain, the lack of trust between the public and tax collection agencies is the primary cause of the documented economy’s shrinkage and the undocumented economy’s growth.
There should be no need for human contact between tax collector and taxpayer. A report by Lums reveals that taxpayers, tax collectors, and tax practitioners share Rs 38 out of every Rs 100 collected for the exchequer, leading to a significant reduction in revenue.
In order to restore public confidence in the tax collection agencies, he demanded a tighter accountability system.
Apart from this, the tax system should be simplified and government spending should be controlled because taxpayers believe their money is being spent on non-developmental projects without a return.
Mian Zahid Hussain emphasised that digitisation can play a fundamental role in expanding the size of the document economy. Pakistan has consistently lacked sustainable economic stability due to a lack of serious efforts, but this trend can no longer persist.
Mian Zahid Hussain stated that according to the World Bank’s 2022 report, Pakistan’s black economy is 457 billion dollars annually. According to the actual size of Pakistan’s economy, tax revenue can be at least 18 thousand billion rupees annually, which needs to be addressed so that Pakistan can stand on its own.
About 75 percent of Pakistan’s labour works in the undocumented sector of the economy, and the spread of the black economy affects the documented economy; if this continues, the country’s economy will not be able to run properly, he warned.
