ISLAMABAD, May 8: Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) has urged the government to provide relief in the up-coming budget particularly harsh fiscal measures and anomalies, which have continued to adversely hurt this industry commercially and financially.

As a result of misconceived and miscalculated fiscal policies of the government, a large number of vegetable ghee and cooking oil units have already closed their business because of liquidity crunch, it said.

Addressing a news conference here on Thursday, the chairman, PVMA Shaikh Abdul Razzaque said that the government was using the commodity as a source of revenue generation and collects around Rs29 billion in the shape of duties and taxes from this industry, next only to the petroleum products.

He said that as a result of this heavy taxation of Rs20 per kg vegetable ghee and cooking oil, the price of the commodity shoot up.

To a question, he said that if the government reduced the rate of taxes, the PVMA would subsequently reduce the price of the commodity.

Presenting the budgetary proposal, the chairman hoped the government would give serious consideration to the proposals to provide relief to the consumer and save the vegetable ghee/cooking oil industry from total collapse and at the same time ensure self-reliance by encouraging local production of non-conventional oil seeds.

Giving details of the proposed measures, he said that the provision of income tax and sales tax should be extended to FATA and PATA to provide relief to those industries settled in tariff areas.

He said the PVMA committee has also suggested reduction in withholding tax on import of edible oils by the industrial entrepreneurs to the pre-budget level of 2000-2001, 2 per cent and 5 per cent for commercial importers as per established policy of the government.

This he said would give preferential treatment to the industrial entrepreneurs encouraging the industrial growth.

Alternatively, he added, only the manufacturers of vegetable ghee/cooking oil licensed by the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) may be allowed to import edible oils.