Prime Minister, Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, on Tuesday said the government, in consultation with the business community, had introduced long-pending structural reforms over the past two and a half years, describing the process as a result of sustained teamwork between the government and the private sector.
The prime minister was addressing a meeting with leading industrialists, businessmen and entrepreneurs, which he attended along with the Deputy Prime Minister. He welcomed the members of the business fraternity to the meeting.
Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif said that Rs800 billion had been recovered in a year through enforcement measures alone, without imposing any new taxes. He said cases pending in courts for the past ten years had been pursued and followed up, particularly those relating to indirect sales tax paid by consumers, adding that such improvement in enforcement had not been witnessed before in the country’s history.
The prime minister recalled that prior to the budget, multiple rounds of consultations had been held with the business community on various economic issues, in which the Finance and Commerce ministers, along with their secretaries, had also met with the stakeholders before his own interaction with them.
He said that the recommendations put forward by the business community during earlier meetings, including during difficult periods, had helped the government bring about structural changes with their support. He termed it a long journey achieved through collective effort.
He said it was for this reason that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for the first time, extended relevant allowance, and that the IMF Managing Director, during his interaction with the prime minister, had agreed to offer a tax waiver.
The prime minister said all these measures were undertaken with consultation from the business community, describing it as a long journey accomplished through teamwork, and said the government would continue to proceed on this path with the guidance and assistance of the business community.
He said that any economic growth achieved must be export-led, stating that growth without an export orientation would be meaningless. He said it was for this reason that special tax relief had been extended to exporters in the budget.
The prime minister said the purpose of the meeting was to seek the opinion of the business community, as the country was in the first quarter of the fiscal year, on the challenges facing export enhancement and possible solutions to address them.
