PM meets businessmen panel team

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Wednesday said the government was not giving out of the box incentives to Chinese businessmen in the wake of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and only some incentives were being given to industries that wanted to relocate to Pakistan.

The PM met with a delegation of the Businessmen Panel (BMP) led by their Chairman Mian Anjum Nisar at the PM house.

The PM directed the commerce minister to begin close liaison with the business community and the chambers to keep abreast of their issues. “A committee was working on the exports of surplus sugar.”

The panel said there was need to revisit the trade policy as the country’s exports had declined drastically in three years, whereas exports from Bangladesh rose from $24 billion to $36 billion.

Anjum Nisar said last month regulatory duty was imposed without the consultation of the chambers of commerce, and it could increase the cost of doing business. Special economic zones (SEZ) in the CPEC were still not operative, he said, and requested the PM to make the SEZs functional so the private sector could begin constructing industries.

BMP chairman also drew attention to the sales tax refunds which were piling up day by day. He said the Federal Board of Revenue should make a workable mechanism to release the sales tax claims which were much needed to rotate the financial circle of the businessmen.