KARACHI, Jan 8: The exemption on capital gains tax on share trading, which was to expire on June 30, has been extended for one more year. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz made an announcement in this regard at the Top Companies Awards distribution ceremony, organised by the Karachi Stock Exchange on Monday.

The exemption on capital gains tax has been in place since 1974 and extended from time to time.

The prime minister said he wanted to see the market perform well, and by announcing the exemption, he was taking care of one of the demands of the stock exchanges. He also gave a subtle hint on ‘stamp duty’ when he turned to Chief Minister Ghulam Arbab Rahim sitting on the dias and asked him to look into the ‘stamp duty’ matter “otherwise these brokers are smart and would start trading from other destinations”.

He pointed out that Pakistan stood out as one of the fastest growing developing countries in three sectors: IT & telecom; oil and gas and banking. He said foreign and local investors were flocking particularly into those sectors because reforms had been undertaken to provide ample opportunity; good regulations and transparency of policies.

He stressed the need to attract more institutional investors, banks, insurance companies and mutual funds to the market. He said the government was in the process of developing the concept of ‘holding company’ to promote investment, and the CBR and SECP had been directed to work out its modalities before the budget.

Mr Aziz said he saw the government as nimble, change-oriented, promoting transparency and professionalism. He said it needed to be recognised that the private sector was leading the process of economic growth, and governments the world over were assuming the role of policy-maker, facilitator, regulator and enabler.