KARACHI, June 13: The government in its last budget has given very little attention to the agriculture sector, which contributes 22 per cent to the GDP and offers employment to 45 per cent of the population.

This was observed by Syed Masoud Ali Naqvi, FCA and Senior Partner, KMPG Taseer Hadi & Co, in his presentation at the “Post-Budget Seminar,” organised by the Southern Regional Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), here on Wednesday. Director General LTU, Karachi Mukhtar Gondil was the session chairman.

Mr Naqvi said being an agrarian state, the policymakers should evolve a proactive consistent policy specifying targets for bringing stability in production of major and minor crops to avoid their shortage and expensive imports of such commodities like, sugar, wheat etc.

He noted that one year the country reaped bumper wheat and sugarcane crop and the next year the government was importing the same commodities and offering subsidies to meet local demand which was a result of inconsistent policies for this crucial sector of the economy.

He was also critical of the agriculture sector’s contribution in revenue which was only one per cent and added that it did not reflect its actual potential and needed to be focussed.

Mr Naqvi also highlighted that the budget lacked any concrete measures to overcome shortage of skilled workforce, which he thought was an important issue and the government should take it seriously and encourage investment in human resource development.

He said the inequitable distribution of resources was another serious issue which did not get attention of the budget-makers and pointed out that despite the economic growth of over 7 per cent the poor-rich gap was broadening.

He also deliberated on measures for checking inflation and said that without improving supply-side chain, desired results could not be achieved.

He considered energy shortage, job creation, high administrative cost of developmental projects, rising trade deficit, etc., major challenges for the government for which the budget offered no effective remedy.

Other prominent speakers were Ebrahim Sidat, FCA, Country Managing Partner, Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder & Co. and Syed Shabbar Zaidi, FCA, Partner, A.F. Ferguson & Co.

They discussed gradual abolition of presumptive tax, reduction in the cost of doing business and indirect taxation, providing space for private limited companies to grow and documentation in real estate sectors, reducing possibility of interaction and litigation with tax authorities.

Mr Mukhtar Gondil, in his concluding remarks, said the government had planned to restructure the corporate sector as mentioned in the Budget 2007-08.