ICCI opposes further hike in GST in budget

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) said that government was reportedly considering to further increase GST rate from 17 per cent to 18 per cent in budget 2019-20 with the aim to pave way for meeting the enhanced tax revenue target, but the Chamber totally opposed this proposal as it would further increase the cost of doing business and unleash a new wave of high inflation for the general public.

Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Rafat Farid, Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi, Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that high rate of GST in Pakistan was one of the major causes of high production cost due to which our exports were suffering and people were facing great inflation.

They said due to this situation, the business community of the entire country had been demanding since long for bringing down GST to single digit level so that business activities could flourish smoothly and people to get relief.

However, they said that instead of addressing the concerns of business community on GST, government was considering to further increase its rate that would create additional problems for business sector and the common man.

Ahmed Hassan Moughal also demanded that government in budget 2019-20 should withdraw GIDC on gas bills of all industrial sectors, take back increase in gas and power tariffs for value added export oriented industries, introduce fixed tax regime for trade, services sector, construction and export oriented industries, continue the existing zero-rated regime for 5 export oriented industries include all other export oriented industrial sectors in the zero-rated regime and control smuggling, which was greatly hurting the manufacturing and export sectors of the country. He said that all these measures were necessary to facilitate the growth of business activities and quick revival of economy.