Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Monday that it is impossible to increase investment, employment, and revenue without reducing the burden on the tax-paying sectors of the economy. He said that increasing the tax burden on tax-paying sectors is tantamount to driving them out of the country.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that in the country’s GDP, agriculture accounts for 23%, wholesale and retail accounts for 18%, and construction and transport accounts for 19%. The burden of direct taxes in these sectors is negligible, which does not happen anywhere globally.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that due to the non-collection of tax from important sectors, the entire burden of the tax falls on manufacturing, other tax-paying sectors and the public, resulting in serious economic problems.
The business leader said that the country’s economy is troubling, and the non-cooperation of international organisations in these circumstances can be very harmful.
Due to the non-cooperation of the IMF, it has become impossible to obtain cheap loans from international institutions and other sources as well. As a result, our foreign exchange reserves continue to decrease, he added.
He said that Pakistan must finalise a deal with the IMF immediately.
The international financial community is getting a negative message about Pakistan due to continued accusing the IMF. Therefore, it has become necessary to end this practice.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that the advice of the countries and institutions that want to lend to Pakistan should be given importance. If the country goes bankrupt, a long and painful period will begin, the situation will become more difficult, and the people will become uncontrollable.
Our country can better deal with the current economic situation provided that the cost of doing business is brought down to par with other countries in the region so that exports can increase.
The government should establish a cost accounting authority which can determine the cost of doing business for Pakistani producers and bring the prices of gas and electricity to the level of competing nations, he suggested.
We are not required to repeat past mistakes and stop making empty claims. He warned that political parties have to decide to prioritise the country’s interests above everything else and stick to it; otherwise, the worst economic crisis in the country’s history will destroy everything.
