ISLAMABAD - Islamabad Women's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI) on Saturday lauded the recently announced tax amnesty scheme, saying that it will reduce the burden on the poor and the salaried class.

However, it said, the FBR would have to work harder to meet the targets for which business community should not be harassed.

Now the government should focus on the upcoming budget which should be business friendly and pro-growth, said Samina Fazil, founder president of IWCCI.

She said that economic issues should be preferred over political matters in the budget while influential lobbies should be discouraged which have initiated efforts to get unjustified benefits.

She said that increasing imports and decreasing exports have taken a toll on the economy pushing up the deficit to the unprecedented levels calling for immediate reforms which should not be ignored.

She demanded that the process of sending remittances should be made efficient and economical to discourage illegal channels while the attention of investors should be diverted to the stock market.

The property market is getting the undue attention of the investors while the stock market is not preferred despite the fact that its size has doubled during the current government but capitalization remains at a dismal level, she added.

The withholding tax on bank transactions has not gone down with the business community, therefore, it should be abolished or reduced to stop expansion in the black economy and bail out banks from the liquidity crunch, she demanded.

She said that limit of WHT on bank transaction can be increased from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand to provide relief to the common man and small shopkeepers.