Advisor on Commerce A.Razak Dawood has claimed that the business community is increasing inflation in the country through high profit margins and asked them to make efforts to reduce it. Dawood, while speaking at KCCI, said that the govt. will reduce import duties and taxes on raw materials for 26 sectors, as a new industrial policy has been finalized to reduce the cost of production and provide an impetus to industrial expansion. Earlier, business leaders criticized PM Imran Khan’s claims that 2020 would be a year of growth, saying that given unavailability of utilities, higher cost of doing business and exchange rate uncertainty, there could be no business expansion and export enhancement. Chairman BMG, Siraj Kassam Teli said that there has been no industrial expansion in years, and without surplus production, one cannot expect increase in exports. President KCCI Agha Shahab said that import duties in Pakistan are much higher than competitors in the region, which need to be rationalized. He said that legal imports were declining, and there is a massive surge in smuggling due to the excessive duties and there was a 44% increase in the Afghan Transit Trade last year alone. The business community at KCCI also asked the advisor to ensure early release of the stuck up refund claims.
13/01/2020