MULTAN City News

‘Govt attaining macro-economic stability’

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries president Abdul Rauf Alam on Tuesday lauded the government’s financial policies and said the country was successfully attaining macro-economic stability.

Talking on phone, the FPCCI president backed the government’s financial agenda and said that the government’s financial policies were well-defined and going towards right direction. He said that the Pakistan Stock Exchange during the last week crossed the highest ever mark with 40,000 points benchmark. He said that the growth was hitting record high including re-engagement of international financing institutions, which was firmly pursuing the goal of economic growth and employment generation. Abdul Rauf Alam said that the exchange was growing and hitting benchmarks since past year. In June, he added, shares of indigenous companies and organisations posed for their highest weekly gains in the last three years. He said that it was a good sign that all the macro-economic indicators were positive, adding that forex reserves stood at over 20 billion dollars and inflation rate was under 3 per cent. The FPCCI president said that it was more encouraging that government was successfully attaining macro-economic stability including re-engagement of international financing institutions, which was firmly pursuing the goal of economic growth and employment generation. He said that apart from focus on economy, the government also paid full attention to development of energy sector to alleviate the problem of energy shortage in the country.

‘BUSINESS COMMUNITY REJECTS FBR’S PROPERTY VALUATION TABLES’: The business community and trade bodies have rejected the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) property valuation tables for Multan district as it is not acceptable for being unrealistic.

Talking to journalists here on Tuesday, Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Fareed Mughees Sheikh said that these valuation tables were prepared without consultation with the stakeholders for the sake of receiving maximum tax. He also rejected the FBR’s proposal to realise five per cent advance tax from the developers and builders. He noted that there were many legal flaws in the valuation system, which needs to be removed in consultation with the Multan Chamber and other concerned stakeholders as there could not be two regulators. He also emphasised that amendments should be made in the valuation tables to make them practical.