Export-oriented industries should be facilitated to the maximum in the upcoming Federal Budget 2016-17 as the export sector plays an important role in the economic uplift of the country, a number of speakers said at a seminar held on ‘Budget Proposals relating to Export-oriented Sector’ at Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Monday.
LCCI Vice President Nasir Saeed, former LCCI senior vice president Malik Tahir Javed, Chief Collector Customs (Centre) Sumera Nazir Khan, Collector Customs (Exports) Samina Tasneem Zahra, Deputy Collector Customs (Exports) Sheraz Ahmed and Collector Customs Muhammad Sadiq spoke on the occasion.
The participants were of the view that rules, regulations and procedures for export-oriented sectors should be made easy so that it can play its role in the improvement of the business and economic sector of the country.
LCCI Vice President Nasir Saeed said that it is a matter of concern that exports are not improving despite the fact that the country has all the resources it needs.
He said it is expected that the exports will remain limited to $23 billion at the end of the ongoing financial year which is not a good sign.
“We have to focus on investing in the energy sector, lowering tariffs on smuggling prone items, increasing the share of direct taxes in revenue and lowering the slab of indirect taxes in the upcoming budget to achieve key economic targets to be set for the year 2016-17.”
In order to fill the gap between demand and supply of energy, maximum funds should be allocated for construction of dams/water reservoirs and tapping of Thar Coal.
“Although government is doing a lot in the energy sector but there is a dire need to complete the ongoing power project as soon as possible,” he maintained.
Nasir Saeed said that a number of sectors in Pakistan including infrastructure development, coal, energy, agriculture, livestock, textiles and pharmaceutical offer lucrative investment opportunities to foreign investors but unfortunately due to absence of a proper and well tailored marketing strategy, these opportunities remain unused.
He said that reliance on a few countries and few products for exports is also one of the reasons for low-exports of the country.
Earlier, Deputy Collector Customs (Exports) Sheraz Ahmed gave a detailed presentation on the export-oriented industries.
