LAHORE - The Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry regional chairman Sheikh Abdul Waheed Sandal has called for drastic cut in sales tax to 5 per cent, also abolishing refund claims system, as the government has to reimburse ultimately about 90 per cent of its collections from sales tax. “The 5 per cent sales tax without any refund claim will enhance the government revenue immensely, besides curbing menace of corruption, as industry’s refund claims are not fulfilled without commission,” he maintained. He asked the government to pro-actively deal with the ongoing energy crisis to avert industrial closures and resultant economic downturn. Talking to The Nation, he said that the power shortage had not only caused unrest among the businessmen but it was depriving the country of 2 per cent of much-needed GDP with an impact of Rs52 billion per annum on revenue generation and if seriousness is not shown, it is not the industrial productions alone but the economic activity would also come to a grinding halt.Waheed Sandal, who was visibly disturbed over the government’s inability to tackle power crisis in its over four year tenure, said that the FPCCI would continue to press upon the policy makers for implementation of a result-oriented mechanism.The FPCCI Regional Chairman said that circular debt, electricity theft, fast increasing line losses, inefficiencies of government-owned generation and distribution companies; overstaffing and the use of obsolete technologies need to be tackled head-on and without any further loss of time.Sandal also urged the government to ensure equal supply of electricity throughout the country as the province of Punjab was the worst hit and the investment scenario has totally spoiled in the province.He said that government should expand market access by entering into FTAs and PTAs with countries where it has competitive advantage. The recent thaw in Pakistan and India trade relations and reciprocal MFN status will help the cause of greater regional trade. South Asia is home to one of the largest consumer markets in the world in terms of size. Trade within SAARC is merely 5–6 per cent of their total world trade whereas trade within ASEAN stands around 25 per cent and is expected to increase to 40 per cent by 2015. He said that the FPCCI fully supports an increased regional trade but it should not be at the expense of local industry which is already under severe pressure due to growing energy crisis. The situation for various sectors of economy with regard to trade with India demands a measured approach whereby local industry such as pharmaceutical, automobiles, auto-parts, ghee and detergent manufactures are supported for improving their innovative capacity to better cope with the onslaught of new competition from across the border. He called for drastic cut in duties on all industrial raw materials being imported from India to create level-playing field for Pakistani businessmen.He said that unless and until the duties on all industrial raw materials are not curtailed to zero and rate of markup is not brought at par with India, Pakistani businessmen would not be able to cope with influx of Indian goods in post-MFN scenario.He said that high markup rates are an area where a full concentration of concerned quarters is direly needed. He said that markup rates are highest in Pakistan than the other countries of the region. He said that interest rate in Pakistan is 10 per cent while in India is 8 per cent, in China 6 per cent, in Australia 3.25 per cent, in UK 0.50 per cent , in USA 0.25 per cent and in Japan is zero per cent. He said that government should bring down the markup rates at least at par with India.