Friday, December 11, 2009

KCCI & KESC ARRANGED KHULI KACHEHRI AT KCCI ON 17TH DECEMBER 2009

Abdul Majid Haji Muhammad, President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) and Tabish Gauhar, CEO of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) have arranged KHULI KACHEHRI (Open Hearing) on December 17, 2009 at 11:00AM at Majeed Bawany Auditorium-KCCI specifically for the members of KCCI for their pending issues pertaining to KESC.
Members, who are facing any problem from KESC, are requested to kindly forward complaints in writing alongwith supporting documents latest by December 15, 2009 and advised to participate in KHULI KACHEHRI on the above mentioned date and time.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

FBR nets Rs 259 billion revenues in first quarter


Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs 259.24 billion of revenues during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, according to provisional figures released by FBR on Monday.
According to the figures, the FBR has collected Rs 98.37 billion during the month of September 2009. Aggregate collection during the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year thus works out to Rs 259.24 billion. The final revenue collection figures for the month of September 2009 are likely to increase further following the receipt of taxes, including taxes deducted at source, collected from different parts of the country.
The break-up of the tax collection figures for the month of September 2009 is attached for further details.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Tarin urges self-reliance to achieve economic stability

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin Thursday said self-reliance was the only way forward for Pakistan to achieve economic stability and lessen dependence on revenue streams flowing in from donor agencies.

“As long as these revenue streams flow, things work well but once these streams go away, problems re-surface and economic independence becomes a distant dream,” he said in a keynote address to a two-day ‘Conference on Value Added Tax (VAT)’ that started in the capital here under the auspices of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The minister said Pakistan heavily relied on taxes as a major source for government revenues required for socio-economic uplift of the people. Optimum revenues are achieved when an efficient taxation system is in place. Our Government’s vision and strategy of a better Pakistan also rests on a taxation rĂ©gime which is based on equity and fairness, convenience of payment, economy in collection, and simplicity of procedures, he added.

He said reducing poverty through generating additional revenues is an important step towards achieving our government’s vision and that can only be achieved through an efficient taxation system which conforms to the best international practices in revenue collection.

Shaukat Tarin said these best practices were being adopted by countries all over the world and like others Pakistan had also set about modernising its taxation structure through the Tax Administrative Reforms Program (TARP) aimed at achieving greater efficiency and productivity in the tax collecting business processes and tapping new tax resources.

He admitted there were challenges in the way of generating additional indigenous revenues and exercise of discretionary powers by the government, lack of professionalism due to an inadequate capacity building and existence of certain exemptions in our tax regime were issues which needed to be addressed before the introduction of Value Added Tax.

Tarin said the tax managers alone could not do all this and “a lot depends on the policy, planning, vision and commitment of the political and economic managers”. “It is therefore a common responsibility of all the stakeholders to contribute towards achieving an efficient taxation system which can generate additional revenues for the country,” he added.

He also called for collective efforts to achieve a broader and larger goal of better standards of living for the people through better tax collection. This in turn requires increase in tax base by incorporating maximum categories of services into the tax net. While our tax base includes a wide range of goods, services sector, which is a major source of revenue around the world, is largely out of the tax net and it is time we revisited our exemptions, zero-rated items, rate variations and major sources of irritants to business, he added.

The finance minister said Pakistan could also draw on the experiences of other countries for developing a viable model best suited to our economy. He said the Value Added Tax could be considered as an effective tool for proper documentation of economy, widening of tax base and equitable taxation mechanism.

Later talking to media men, Shaukat Tarin highlighted the importance of value addition for taxation purposes on the retail stage as widening of taxation base. At the retail stage it is basically the issue of understanding and tapping the whole supply chain of goods and services. However, enforcement of any such tax on such a stage cannot be adequately done if the tax collecting machinery is not properly aware of the facts and figures regarding the different social segments, documentation of small to medium businesses, their supply chains and financial capacity of the retailers themselves. All this needs to be thoroughly researched, properly documented and comprehensively digitized by the tax machinery.

To another question, he underscored the VAT service delivery and its impact on the lives of our taxpaying community which is the backbone of our economy. FBR should keep in mind that VAT in today’s world is considered as a powerful tool in harnessing funds in domestic markets. These funds can then be used by the developing countries like Pakistan to meet the challenges like increasing mass education, poverty eradication and provision of socio-physical infrastructure.

The minister cited the example of Sri Lanka which at a 15 per cent VAT had been able to increase its tax-to-GDP ratio by seven per cent and if Pakistan could increase its tax-to-GDP ratio by four per cent through the implementation of VAT, it would be able to raise an additional Rs 600 billion, taking us close to bridging the Rs 722 billion fiscal deficit.

Earlier FBR Chairman Mr Sohail Ahmad in his address to the inaugural technical session of the conference highlighted the steps taken by FBR for generating more revenue through massive reforms, re-structuring and business process re-engineering which he said could also serve in the implementation of VAT from July 2010.

He said the government believed the impact of taxes generated through VAT would be significant in covering all those sectors which earlier enjoyed exemptions in one way or the other. He welcomed the participants of the conference which he hoped would be able to come up with a way forward for the implementation of value added tax in an incentive-based, transparent and harassment-free environment.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

SBP cuts interest rate by 100 points


State Bank of Pakistan has slashed the discount rate by 100 basis points, report said on Saturday. At a press conference here Saturday, Governor SBP Syed Saleem Raza announced the monetary policy.

He announced that the SBP has decided to slash the discount rate by 100 basis points. “The SBP has cut the discount rate by one percentage points from the current 14 per cent,” Raza said. The governor said GDP ratio reaches 2.1 pc. He said foreign exchange reserves improved sharply and stood at $9.1 billion. The SBP has cut the discount rate by one percentage points from the current 14 per cent. It had cut the rate by one percentage point in April this year from 15 to 14 per cent.

The central bank also changed the interest rate mechanism to bring transparency in Repurchase Offered (repo) rate as well as reverse repo rate as recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Central Bank wants reforms for entrepreneurial culture


State Bank of Pakistan, Syed Salim Raza Wednesday stressed need for reforms to foster an entrepreneurial culture.
Addressing conference on Entrepreneurship 2009, organized by Memon Professional Forum at local hotel, he said there is ample research available globally, which links entrepreneurship, innovation, growth to encourage policy makers to favour policies fostering reforms.
“In environment of innovative entrepreneurship, dynamic markets, businesses can grow rapidly, ensuring that employment grows and opportunity expands.”
In under-developed states like Pakistan, there is added bonus that such environment is also most poor-friendly and conducive to social mobility, he added.
He said that World Bank 2009 survey of cost-of-doing-business in 181 countries clearly stresses need for continued reforms in critical areas in Pakistan.
He said entrepreneurship encompasses innovative ideas, implementations that change way business is conducted in market. On other extreme, term applies equally well to lowly street vendor, who seeks to set up small stall of his own to provide living to his family, funded perhaps by micro-savings or micro credit, hoping to succeed by dint of sheer hard work and ability to satisfy a small market niche.
He said both definitions of entrepreneurship encompass some common elements: ability to envision an unmet market niche or innovation that can change market; willingness to invest their time, money, effort seeking to bring that vision to life and willingness to assume all resulting risks and rewards.
“It is thus probably no coincidence that most innovation occurs in countries that encourage entrepreneurs the most.”

Monday, July 27, 2009

Govt to improve law, order, power situation to achieve trade targets-Amin Fahim

Federal Minister for Trade Makhdoom Amin Fahim Monday said the law and order situation and power crisis across the country has had a negative impact on the overall trade.

Announcing the new trade policy 2009-12 here, Makhdoom Amin Fahim said the law and order situation will be improved and electricity crisis overcome in order to achieve the set targets.

Earlier today, the Federal Cabinet gave approval to the Trade Policy 2009-12.The Cabinet meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.

The total imports of the country stood at 34.9 billion dollars in the last fiscal. The imports slashed by 13 percent and exports by 7 percent in the previous year.

The global economic growth shrunk by 9 percent as a result of world recession which also had its negative impact on Pakistan’s trade.

Textile exports decreased from 10.1 billion dollars to 9.6 billion while garments exports reduced by 21 percent.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim said exports of engineering goods recorded a 26 percent rise. Exports of gems and jewelry increased from 213 million dollars to 280 million.

He said the government has held consultations with all the stakeholders at a difficult time.

Steps will be taken for the capacity of building of local industries under the new trade policy, he said, adding “technological development be undertaken for enhancement of exports of unconventional goods.”

He announced that investment will be made in 10 sectors under Entrepreneur Fund.

Trade diplomacy will be enhanced through Doha development agenda for gaining better access to international markets including those of the US and Europe.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

OGDCL wins 6th Annual Environment Excellent Award


Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) has won 6th Annual Environment Excellent Award 2009 on the basis of best environmental track record, services and performance.
Federal Minister for Environment Hameedullah Jan Afridi gave away the award to Managing Director, OGDCL at a function held at Karachi.
This is second time that the state-run Company has bagged this award, the first being in 2007.
This award instituted by NEFEH with support of United Nations Environment Program and Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The ceremony was attended by government officials, corporate, environmentalists, experts, civil society and media. The Minister said the OGDCL has maintained its position as a key provider of safe energy through indigenous sources by observing highest standards of Health, Safety and Environment in compliance with statutory regulations. Affirming its stand as an environmentally responsible Exploration and Production (E&P) organization, the OGDCL won the Annual Environment

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

KCCI urges registration to safeguard exports


KARACHI: Anjum Nisar, President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, in a letter to Suleman Ghani, Federal Secretary, Ministry of Commerce urged for registration of geographical indications (GIs) as Certification Marks by the competent authority.
He drew the Ministry’s attention towards the promulgation of Geographical Indications (GIs) Law, and establishment of GI registry in Pakistan.
In the relevant context, while highlighting that India had previously promulgated GI Law & has established GI registry, he lamented that India had already registered and notified Pakistani well known variety of “Super Basmati” as their own variety of rice.
Besides, many other products / produces were under registration process and may claim internationally these as their own products.
He focused that in Pakistan draft Bill on GIs was still awaited to be promulgated and implemented though it was already approved by the stakeholders, meetings called by the Intellectual Property Organization (IPO).

Monday, June 1, 2009

Petrol, gas and electricity subsidy to end: Shaukat Tarin


KARACHI: Finance Advisor, Shaukat Tarin has said that a decision for putting an end to the subsidy on petrol, gas and electricity has been taken.
Addressing a seminar on ‘IMF role in Pakistan economy’ under the aegis of Institute of Business Administration (IBA), the finance advisor said that the government was facing economic challenges.
He said that the current fiscal year revenue recoveries would amount to Rs1180bn, but yet the recoveries have been crucial problem for the govt and this was the reason that the prices of petroleum products were not reduced.
Shaukat Tarin said that serious notice has been taken of the FBR harassing consumers. He said that the focus for the next year would be to revive the economy after stabilization. He pointed out that attention would also be paid towards the revenue generation. He explained that the tax would not be increased and instead efforts would be made to expand the tax net. This would be carried out administratively and also on the policy basis.
He said that Pakistan’s three national enterprise—Pakistan Steel, Railway and PIA were cumulatively incurring losses of over Rs200 billion annually.
He said that relief would be given to the middle class in the upcoming budget, while the new National Financial Award (NFC) would be presented with the consensus of the four provinces.