On Thurday, July 19, 2018, Finance Minister, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar stressed on lifting the quality of local products as per international standards to discourage imports and increase exports.
Talking to a delegation of Pakistan Business Council in Islamabad, she said the industry needs to examine all options of managing their competitiveness.
The Finance Minister also emphasized the need to deal with root causes of energy liabilities such as transmission and distribution losses that have aggravated the circular debt problem.
The CEO, PBC made a comprehensive presentation of the issues facing corporate sector and shared proposals on strengthening overall business environment and steps that could help boost different sectors of the economy.
Among other things, the delegates emphasised on simplification and reduction of a numer of taxes through unification of multiple taxes, a reduction in indirect taxes and the broadening of the tax base.
They also asked for provision of level playing field with the informal sector; provision of energy at competitive costs and called for the establishment of a high level council that includes political leaderships and independent/corporate experts tasked with developing deeper structural reforms for the business community.
