Business community terms budget friendly

Islamabad: Business community of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad termed the budget 2016-2017 friendly, as a balanced budget and expressed hope that the industrialists, traders and agri-based business would make all out efforts to take maximum mileage of the facility announced for them.

While commenting over proposed budget Abdul Rauf Alam, President Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) said that overall budget is friendly and good.

He said business community is very much hopeful with this budget, as government has announced facilities to them. “Detail reaction will be given after over viewing the budget documents,” he added.

Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industries (RCCI) Acting President Saqib Rafiq said that a number of good decisions have been part of the budget speech but a comprehensive reaction on this subject would be announced later from the forum of Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) after thoroughly studying the proposed finance document.

The acting president said that the announcement of subsidiary on fertilisers and relaxation of duties on textile machinery is laudable as it will help to boost the agriculture sector. The announcement of leather, carpets, textile, sports goods and surgical items as zero rated is highly appreciable and it was an outstanding demand of exporters. However, we have concerns on duty imposed on cement and capital gain tax on real estate. We appreciate the increase in taxes for non-filers, this will help to document the economy and increase the tax net.

Saqi Rafiq also lauded the increase in PSDP, 800 billion allocations for next budget. Lowering corporate sales tax to 31% is a good step, he added. However, shows concern on the extension of super tax.