LAHORE: Terming federal budget 2016-17 as satisfactory, All Pakistan Anjuman Tajran (APAT) on Sunday said that country's economic indicators are improving thus paving the way for speedy economic development.
APAT Central Secretary General Naeem Mir stated this in a media conference here at Lahore Press Club, where other trade leaders including Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, Chaudhry Mehboob Sirki, Raja Hassan Akhtar and Sohail Mehmood Butt were also present.
Naeem Mir said that Pakistan's economy was recovering fast and coming back on track, which was evident from the factors of stability in rupee value, low inflation rate, lowest discount rates, record foreign exchange reserves, increase in money circulation, satisfactory level of stock exchange, reduction in overall revenue deficit, industrial development, and uninterrupted electricity and gas supply to industry for the last six months.
To a question, the APAT Secretary General said that government revenues had registered 60 percent growth during last three years, which created fiscal space to spend more on sectors of health, education, infra-structure, social sector and energy projects.
To another query, Naeem Mir explained that government had set 7.5 percent growth rate for current financial year that unfortunately could not be achieved due to negative growth in agriculture and exports sectors.
That was why, he added, the federal government allocated huge budget as well as facilities for agriculture and exports for next fiscal year starting from July 1, 2016, which was a wise step on the part of the government.
Naeem Mir expressed the hope that Rs 220 billion refund claims of the exporters would be vacated by August this year.
However, APAT Secretary General maintained that the government should spell out the target of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and in which sectors it was expected the most.
Naeem Mir also urged the government to simplify the taxation mechanism that helps broaden the overall tax base in the country. He also called for re-starting the tax amnesty scheme to provide another opportunity to non-filers to become filers.
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