Economy showing economic stability signs

Economy showing economic stability signs

Updated at: 2303 PST, Thursday, November 19, 2009 RAWALPINDI: Chairman Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) Suhail Ahmed on Thursday said the economy was showing macro-economic stability as inflation was under control and exports, imports and foreign reserves were increasing. “I see very positive economic recovery signs and the economy is stabilizing,” he told members of Rawalpindi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) in a meeting here. He said exports have started picking up after remaining low for sometime, imports are increasing and inflation was under control which would bring interest rate down and generate economic activity. Suhail observed that Pakistan was more hit by law and order situation than the global recession. He rejected the apprehensions regarding Finance (Amendment) Ordinance 2009 saying, “I do not find any secret motive behind this ordinance.” He urged the businessmen to pay tax honestly so that the country could prosper. Less than 60% businessmen possessing National Tax Number (NTN) were paying taxes, he pointed out. Neither they are filing returns nor are they paying taxes he said and added the tax burden should be shifted to those who are not paying taxes. He told a questioner that agriculture is not exempted from tax, saying it was paying provincial tax. Suhail said the government has planned to replace the General Sales Tax (GST) by Value Added Tax from July 2010. By end of December its draft would be sent to the parliament for discussion, but if the parliament said no, then it would not be implemented. He said the audit of business concerns is also being planned. Some 900 businesses would be selected through open balloting, in the presence of media men and traders representatives. When a RCCI member suggested that the business community should be a part of the economic policies formulation he said, businessmen are the most important stakeholder in policies formulation and they should be kept onboard. He said he was satisfied with the results shown by FBR during September and October. He assured that he would do his best that no FBR employee harasses the tax payers. The chairman FBR promised to take the businessmen issues to the government, which FBR could not resolve itself. He said he was convinced that FBR should never be a popular organization among businessmen because its job is to generate revenue. “We are not here to become popular with you,” he said and added he would prefer his removal from FBR than becoming popular among the businessmen. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is very unpopular organization in the United States, he said and added the honest tax payers would be popular in his books.