(July 12, 2019)
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday expressed concern over inconclusive meetings between the business community and the PM, Advisor to the PM on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Ministers and Chairman FBR.
The failure of the business community to get any relaxation will result in uneasiness and uncertainty, therefore, the government should show some flexibility so that wheels of the economy could move, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that masses, industrialists and traders are not ready to accept recent tax measures resulting in protests and strikes while many businesses have been closed.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that many factories have also been closed while many are selling their businesses.
The former minister noted that there are host of steps taken in the budget which need some clarification for which businessmen are striving but to no avail. He noted that some changes in the tax system have made import of some items profitable than its manufacturing in the country which must be noted.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that interest rates have been doubled in the last one year, rupee has lost almost fifty percent of the value and taxes have been increased by 35 percent which has added to the cost of doing business while some businesses have simply failed.
Under these tough circumstances some traders and industrialists are not favoring more taxes which has the potential to bankrupt their ventures.
The IMF conditions were supposed to stabilize the troubled economy but it has added to the instability and endangered the business community, he said.
