LAHORE - The All Pakistan Business Forum (APBF) has started consultations for the final preparation of the Federal Budget proposals for FY2017-18.

This was announced in a meeting held to finalise the proposals for the upcoming budget. The meeting was headed by APBF President Ibrahim Qureshi and participated by Executive Committee members, besides various representatives of a number of trade and industry leaders.

The APBF president said that an effort being made to give the government a set of suggestions that would help turn the upcoming budget business-friendly in true sense of the word. He said that the business community understands that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is utilising his best abilities to overcome the economic challenges but, at the same, the private sector considers itself duty-bound to tell the government of several hitches faced by it.

All over the world the private sector plays a leading role as far as economic policy framework is concerned; therefore, APBF has also been playing its role to bring the country out of the economic mire through well-tailored budget proposals, he added. He said that the government and the private sector should be on the same page on minor and major economic issues so that they could be resolved amicably without any further delay, he said.

The APBF budget proposals will cover recommendations, including proposals to incentivise investors, broaden the tax net through documentation of economy, simplify tax system and reorganise the FBR and many industry-specific proposals.

Promoting foreign direct investment (FDI), increasing the share of direct taxes in revenue and lowering the slab of indirect taxes would help achieve key economic targets set for the next fiscal year, Qureshi said. APBF, in its budget proposals, will also suggest that the sales tax slab should immediately be curtailed in order to reduce inflationary pressures, he said.

Qureshi asked the FBR to utilise its abilities to overcome the economic challenges and consult the private sector to remove hitches to speedy economic recovery. He said the all the Executive Committee members have been asked to submit sector-specific details about the problems being faced by their respective businesses, while secondly, a meeting of all the trade and industry associations has also been convened to get their final suggestions about the upcoming budget.