Budget 2020-21 to promote business activities in country: ICCI president

ISLAMABAD, Jun 12 (APP):Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed Friday said the government had presented a balanced budget in the current difficult situation and expressed the hope that it would help promote business activities in the country.
He said this while giving his initial reaction on Federal Budget 2020-21.
He said the government had reduced the customs duty on 40 raw materials of various industries and on 90 tariff lines from 11% to 3% or zero% which was an encouraging step.
He said the government had also reduced regulatory duties on a number of industrial inputs that would hopefully reduce the production cost.
Ahmed said the government had increased the minimum threshold of supplies by retailers for obtaining compuerised national identity card (CNIC) of the buyers from Rs50,000 to Rs100,000 which was a positive move.
He said the government had also reduced the federal excise duty on cement from Rs2 per kg to Rs1.75 per kg which would reduce the price of cement and boost construction activities.
He said the government had proposed some amendments to simplify the withholding tax system which would hopefully benefit the business community.
He said the most welcome step was that despite the difficult financial situation, the government had not imposed any new tax in the budget.
The ICCI president said Pakistan was in dire need of boosting exports at the moment to revive the troubled economy and therefore, demanded that the government should announce better incentives for exports and information technology sectors in order to increase our exports and investment.
He said in view of the current difficult situation, the government had presented a better budget and hoped that the government would include further suggestions of the business community to create more conducive business environment in the country.