KARACHI: Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, Mian Zahid Hussain said that high inflation has made life very difficult for the masses.
He claimed that it is incorrect to attribute the inflation to the IMF's requirements because numerous state-run businesses are partly to blame for the current state of affairs.
According to Mian Zahid Hussain, we should take responsibility for our own economic shortcomings as they are the cause of the lender’s strict requirements.
He said that electricity, gas, and oil prices have increased tremendously.
At the same time, interest rates were also raised to a record level of 22%, which badly affected people and the business community.
He said indirect taxation is also a problem. The share of these direct taxes in total revenue is still between 75 and 80 percent. Indirect tax is easy to collect but increases inflation and poverty, while collecting direct tax is difficult but does not affect people experiencing poverty.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the ratio of the direct tax rate in the country is very low, and there is a need for more will among authorities to increase it.
He noted that efforts to reduce mismanagement, corruption, incompetence, and losses in electricity, oil, and gas have not succeeded for decades.
The high cost of power, gas, and fuel is hitting production and exports, and it has not made any significant difference to the losses of these sectors, while circular loans reached Rs 6,000 billion.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that continued borrowing from banks, without increasing production, has increased inflation in the country. At the same time, the private sector has been crowded out of the debt market.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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