KARACHI: The government is mulling withdrawal of regulatory duty (RD) on many items in the upcoming budget, said Adviser to Prime Minister on Revenue, Finance and Economic Affairs Dr Miftah Ismail on Saturday.

Addressing a panel discussion, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), he said the government has introduced many initiatives including levy of RD to discourage imports of unnecessary items and luxury imports.

Pakistan’s economic fundamentals are very strong and GDP growth is likely to hit a 10-year high at six per cent this year, said Mr Ismail.

According to a press release issued by ICAP, Dr Miftah said country’s economic growth has remained buoyant.

However, fiscal and current account deficits were bothersome.

He said there is a need to curtail budget deficit around 5pc this year in order to create fiscal space for development expenditures.

Through planned amnesty scheme for undeclared foreign assets, the government is trying to stop all the continued amnesties on transfer of foreign remittances, he added.

The current account deficit has reached to alarming level due to lower exports and high imports, he noted.

The adviser admitted the government’s weakness in maintaining real nominal exchange rate for a long time. The exchange rate should be decided by the market forces instead of the regulator, he added.

The adviser to PM said the government would clear all sales tax refunds and customs rebates of exporters by February 15, 2018 and from next budget the government would formulate policy to avoid generation of refunds.

President ICAP Riaz Chamdia said there is a need to resolve problems to the economy. He said there were issues of tax refunds and circular debt. He stressed the need for enhancing tax base for better revenue collection and focusing on new industrial zones.

CEO Pakistan Business Council (PBC) Ehsan Malik said the share of manufacturing sector was depleting which needed attention.

For increasing the share the government should focus on trade, manufacturing and energy policy, he stressed.

Former ICAP president Asad Ali Shah said one time amnesty should be extended to foreign and local undeclared assets.

Arif Habib in his remarks suggested reducing cost of business. He also suggested incentives for business activities and investment in the stock market.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2018