PM Shehbaz seeks business community’s input on boosting exports

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said the government had convened the business community to seek its views on the challenges hindering export growth and possible solutions to address them.

The prime minister said the consultation was particularly important as the country had entered the first quarter of the new fiscal year, providing an opportunity to assess the obstacles to enhancing exports and agree on practical measures to overcome them, state media APP reported.

PM Shehbaz said this while addressing a meeting with leading industrialists, businessmen and entrepreneurs. He was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar. He welcomed the members of the business fraternity to the meeting.

He stressed the need for close coordination with the business community to identify bottlenecks and develop effective strategies for boosting the country’s exports.

PM Shehbaz 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 premier 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.

“The recommendations put forward by the business community during earlier meetings, including during difficult periods, have helped the government bring about structural changes with their support,” he said, terming 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.