KARACHI: The government’s roadmap has pulled the country back from near default and led the economy to achieve stabilisation, said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday.

He was addressing members of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI).

“Many countries including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are now keen on investing in Pakistan, particularly in petro-chemicals, refineries and other energy sectors,” he said.

“The $46 billion Chinese investment in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a strong indicator of confidence in Pakistan’s economy and its potentials,” Dar said.

He stressed the growing interest was due to improvement of major economic indicators including foreign exchange reserves, inflation, discount rate and budget deficit.

Global rating agencies have already upgraded country’s standing and termed it to be a good place for investment, he added.

He urged the business community to increase the number of taxpayers which presently stood at a lowly one million assessees.

He that it was extremely disturbing that a country with a population of 200 million has only one million assessees.

“The government is not in favour of using harsh measures for tax collection and would rather prefer voluntary compliance with an easy and simple tax collection system,” he added.

He further said that if the number of taxpayers goes up to 5m, the government would be comfortable in extending facilities and incentives.

He said the government was presently focusing on agriculture credit and would make is mandatory upon banks to fix targets for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for financing.

He disagreed that the SME Bank should be merged with any commercial bank.

“Even if it were privatised, it would be conditional that the status of the bank is not disturbed,” he commented.

He regretted that development finance institutions like PICIC, IDBP etc were closed and said the move retarded industrial investment.

On the occasion, he announced that a large Russian delegation would be visiting Pakistan.

Talking about the energy crisis in the country, he said, “In 1995 Pakistan had surplus energy and was planning to export it to India. In the absence of planning and focused approached, today the country is facing this energy crisis.”

However, he said, by March 2018 around 10,000MW would start flowing in the national grid system which would not only cover up the short fall of 5,500MW but would also give extra energy for industrial growth.

He further said that work was on for further procuring 14,500MW through hydro and nuclear generation.

He hoped that the 14 member committee formed to sort out 0.3 per cent withholding tax on banking transactions will come up with a viable solution.

Earlier, FPCCI President Mian Mohammad Adrees and Chief Executive Trade Development Authority of Pakistan S. M. Muneer addressed the members.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2015