ISLAMABAD  -  The Federation of Pakistan Cham­bers of Commerce and Industry’s (FPCCI) Businessmen Panel (BMP) has called for promoting industri­alisation and enhancing exports through lowering cost of produc­tion, paying early refunds to solve li­quidity crunch and relaxing import policy for industrial raw material.

The FPCCI former president and Businessmen Panel (BMP) Chair­man Mian Anjum Nisar said that business community was facing tough challenges because of limited business. In this context, he sought attention of the government for formulation of regional, provincial and central level task force, and formulation of sector wise regional policies which would help the gov­ernment address the problems con­fronted by exporters.

He suggested that One Window Operation should be introduced for the replacing the lengthy pro­cedures that involve interaction of manufacturers with various agen­cies. The government agencies were harassing the textile industry every day. Social Security, EOBI and other taxes should be merged and deducted at the source.

Mian Anjum Nisar asked the gov­ernment to appreciate the role of industry for its potential to harvest maximum benefits, providing mass employment to the jobless popula­tion of the country. He also sought government’s attention for formu­lating aggressive marketing plan and hurdle-free policies as well as urgent decisions in favour of ex­ports while taking on board major stakeholders. He called for concert­ed efforts for exploring new mar­kets both traditional and non-tra­ditional in order to introduce home made products. He urged the gov­ernment to announce favourable policies and allow duty-free import of raw material and accessories. This move will attract investors and help in setting up new industries in the country which will create wide opportunities for employment. We direly need a stimulus economic plan coupled with relief package by the government to maximise pro­duction. He also emphasized the need for seeking technical know­how from China and other coun­tries for the sake of innovation, and improvement of products.

The BMP chairman said the sus­tainable solution to Pakistan’s problems lies in reforms, as we can see very large inefficiencies in tax collection. So, the tax compliance must be improved and tax base be broadened. This cannot be achieved with a single policy change, but by a systemic approach, he added.

He observed the government preferred direct taxation to meet revenue shortfall as opposed to re­sorting to increasing indirect taxes because direct taxes tend to be more progressive in nature; therefore, the burden on the lower income strata of the population is lesser. He emphasised that concentrating on import substitution is imperative to narrow import bills and certain imported products such as oil are of a fixed nature; therefore, the gov­ernment needs to enhance focus on import substitution industries, as chemicals, agriculture and steel are potential industries.

He said that undertaking struc­tural reforms require political will. He said that enacting structural re­forms, such as improvements in tax collection system, bureaucracy and ease of doing business requires ma­jor political will and strict imple­mentation of policies, he added.

The BMP chairman urged the government to solve their prob­lems on a priority basis in consul­tation with the traders. The BMP’s mission was to create a stable econ­omy and prosperous business com­munity, he added.

He also called for promoting in­dustrialisation and enhancing ex­ports through lowering the cost of production, paying early refunds to solve liquidity crunch and re­laxing import policy for industrial raw material. He said the business community was facing problems like unannounced load shedding, parking, departmental proceed­ings, overbilling and expensive electricity and gas in the markets. He asked the government to appre­ciate the role of trade, industry and exporters, providing mass employ­ment to the jobless population of the country.

The chairman stressed the need for reforms, with a keen focus on value-addition for a sustainable economic growth, recommending the government to raise exports to double digit of the GDP, as Paki­stan’s exports have bounced back after witnessing decline.

Mian Anjum stressed that focus should be on promoting exports and restricting imports alongside making domestic industry more competitive and subsequently ex­pand its export market. He said that exports of goods and services are an injection into the circular flow of income leading to a rise in aggre­gate demand and an expansion of output, helping raise per capita in­comes and reduce extreme poverty especially in developing economies like Pakistan.