Business leaders discuss budget, taxation matters with Aurangzeb

KARACHI: A delegation of the business community, comprising Atif Ikram Sheikh President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), and Mian Zahid Hussain, Chairman Policy Advisory Board of FPCCI, held a highly constructive meeting with the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb Khan.

The crucial meeting, which took place at the Finance Minister’s office in Islamabad on April 30, 2026, was also attended by Dr Najeeb, Director General of Tax Policy, and other senior officials of the ministry.

The core agenda focused on formulating a business-friendly Federal Budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 and resolving pressing issues related to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) taxes.

READ MORE: Finance minister engages business leaders to shape budget priorities, boost growth

During the extensive deliberations, the business leadership apprised the Finance Minister of the acute challenges facing the industrial and commercial sectors in the current economic climate.

Atif Ikram Sheikh highlighted that recent macroeconomic indicators present a mixed picture, requiring cautious policy interventions by the federal government.

While international financial institutions project a modest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth recovery to 3.5 percent for 2026, the sharp resurgence in the consumer price index, which pushed the national inflation rate to 10.9 percent in April 2026, remains a severe headwind.

This inflation directly impacts consumer purchasing power and significantly multiplies industrial production costs. Furthermore, the persistent burden of elevated energy tariffs, combined with stringent monetary policies and high borrowing rates, is steadily eroding the global competitiveness of Pakistani exports. Mian Zahid Hussain underscored the urgent need for a paradigm shift in the national taxation machinery and the FBR’s operational framework.

He noted that continuously squeezing existing taxpayers to meet the government’s aggressive revenue-collection targets is entirely counterproductive to sustainable industrial growth and to expanding the Pakistani economy from 405 billion dollars to its actual potential. Instead, he proposed that the upcoming federal budget must strongly focus on broadening the tax net horizontally, bringing historically untaxed and under-taxed sectors into the formal economy, and introducing a fair and equitable tax regime across the board.

The business leaders emphasised that formulating a truly growth-oriented budget is the only viable path forward to generate mass employment, revive stagnant industrial zones, boost export volumes, and build reliable fiscal buffers against ongoing global economic uncertainties.

Dr Najeeb, Director General of Tax Policy, shared the government’s perspective on the FBR’s ongoing digitization and structural reform initiatives aimed at plugging revenue leakages and seamlessly facilitating genuine taxpayers.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026