LAHORE   -   Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Sunday that the government is taking decisions which seem tough but are in the larger interest of the country’s economy and its people. Addressing a Pre-Budget Conference FY 2024-25 at a local hotel, he said, “We are doing all this not under the pressure of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) but for Pakistan because the country is supreme to all of us.”

He added that the government was taking all possible measures and ensuring institutional reforms to restore confidence of the business community in the tax revenue collection authorities, especially the FBR (Federal Board of Revenue). He said that effective steps were also being put in place to enhance financial support for various sectors out of which agriculture, information technology (IT) and SME (small and medium enterprises) are priority sectors.

He emphasised that the private sector would have to come forward and play a proactive role to steer the country out of present day economic challenges, asserting that the government’s job is to improve governance and provide facilitation to businessmen and industrialists.

The federal finance minister said that the industry should not depend more on government subsidies on various counts but to strive to transform into export-oriented entities, assuring that the government would provide all possible facilitation in this regard. He said that comprehensive measures were being taken for proper enforcement in the FBR in addition to its reformation and structural changes in the tax collection mechanism.

“Since March this year, we have started a campaign for tax registration,” he said and dispelled the general perception among the people that when they come into the tax net, they will be ‘harassed’. He cited that the government is providing relief in taxes and facilities on a number of other counts to tax filers. He, however, added that the government would negotiate but not back down from the tax registration campaign.

Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb said, “We are moving towards complete digitization as it will increase revenues and also bring transparency in the collection system.” He was of the view that the track and trace system had failed because it was not implemented fully. He, however, added that relevant authorities were working on why the track and trace system did notwork properly.

The Federal Finance Minister said that economic indicators have improved during the last seven to eight months, and at present, the current account deficit is less than one billion dollars, while the Pak rupee is also stable against the US dollar and inflation is coming down and the stock exchange is at an all-time high.

Responding to questions by the business community, he said that a lot of reforms have to be done on tax-to-GDP, energy and privatization matters. “We have to eliminate electricity pilferage completely,” he said and mentioned that private sector’s representation is being ensured in the boards of directors (BoDs) of power distribution companies. Giving a uniform tariff to industrialists across the country is a legitimate demand that should be addressed, he asserted.

Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb said that in a meeting with CEO of commercial banks at State Bank of Pakistan, he had urged the banks to make arrangements for enhancing the finances for agriculture, IT and SMEs sectors. He also appealed to the SMEs to improve their documentation so that the banks could easily evaluate them for loans/fiscal support. He said that the industry could not operate at an interest rate of 25 to 26 percent, asserting that when inflation has come down, then interest rates should also come down.

As far as the privatization of various public sector enterprises is concerned, he said that the government is taking aboard local investors along with foreign investors, citing that foreign as well as local investors are involved in the privatization process of PIA.

In his vote of thanks, FPCCI Regional Chairman and Vice President Zaki Aijaz said that participation of Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and eminent economists, business leaders and experts have not only enriched the discussions but also provided an invaluable guidance to the business community. Former federal minister Hafeez Pasha, Almas Hyder, Dr. Fiaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Advocate Dr. Ikram-ul-Haq, APTMA Chairman Kamran Arshad and others also spoke.