‘Higher side 10%’ super tax triggers blood bath at PSX

KARACHI: Immediately after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced "tough decisions" the government had made in the federal budget for the forthcoming fiscal year 2022–2023, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday saw a bloodbath.

The benchmark KSE-100 index started off in the green, following its upward trend from the previous day, but it quickly fell by a staggering 2,005.38 points, or 4.81 percent, as of 11:59am.

Speaking after chairing a meeting of his finance team to finalise budget measures today, the premier announced that a 10% super tax would be imposed on large-scale industries including cement, steel, sugar, oil and gas, fertiliser, banking, textile, chemical, beverage, and automobile sectors.

Speaking to Geo.tv, Arif Habib Limited Head of Research Tahir Abbas said the market is reacting to the news of the imposition of super tax on large-scale industries.

“A 10% super tax on large-scale industries is on the higher side and the market didn’t expect this, therefore the reaction is intense,” he said.

The analyst was of the view the market will now stay under pressure in the days to come until budget 2022-23 is passed in the National Assembly and the finance act is released, which will reveal the exact details of the “tough” decision taken by the government.