The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Finance & Revenue Mr. Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister Maritime Affairs Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, Minister of State for Finance,Revenue & Power Mr. Ali Pervaiz Malik, CEO TDAP Zubair Motiwala, Chairman FBR Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwana along with members of KCCI. In the beginning, Mr. Zubair Motiwala and members of KCCI welcomed the Finance Minister on his first visit to KCCI and expressed appreciation for PM Shehbaz Sharif's consistent efforts to support the business community, highlighting his regular meetings with KCCI members which contributes to more than 50% of total textile exports of Pakistan. Finance Minister Mr. Muhammad Aurangzeb thanked the KCCI leadership for organizing the event. The Finance Minister discussed structural issues in the economy pointing towards current accout deficit. "This is our fundamental problem so our growth should be based on diversification and export-driven”. On the issue of removal of investigative audits raised by members of KCCI, he replied, “Until and unless enforcement is done through investigative audits, Pakistan cannot survive as a country so it is a must. We have to increase our tax base otherwise the cost of doing business will further increase”. He added KCCI should also consider positive aspects, “Huge tax refunds are paid by government to the business community which amounts to Rs50 billion to facilitate businesses”. Regarding SOEs and rightsizing of government bodies, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said, “Leakages, corruption have prompted rightsizing of certain government entities and it will be done by the ministry on case to case basis”. Then Maritime Minister Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh said, “the Finance Minister is aware of the problems and as he belongs to the corporate sector himself so it’s a good sign for all of us”. He also added that in order to facilitate business community, “KPT has reduced its warehouse cost and will also work on Saturdays as well for our business people”. Mr. Ali Pervaiz State Minister Finance, Revenue and Power added, “tariff rationalisation of electricity and gas is being carried out to facilitate business community”. On taxation load, he said, “our tax base should be widened and so we have taken a paradigm shift based on income earned irrespective of salaried class or business class”. On the issue of SRO 350, Mr. Ali Pervaiz emphasized,” KCCI should form one committee to synchronize the payment mechanism”. Finally, FBR Chairman Mr. Malik Amjed Zubair Tiwana immediately extended the date of biometric verification till 30th August 2024 and said, “a notification will be issued by tomorrow”. On the matter of eliminating Fixed Tax Regime raised by KCCI, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said, “everything will come under Normal tax regime to ensure trust and credibility. The fixed charges on electricity have been reduced. Deferred tax will be automated and done in real-time”. In his concluding remarks, the Finance Minister highlighted the potential to get FDI from Chinese industries. Pakistan can import raw materials and export the value added products. He ended the meeting by thanking all media persons and members of KCCI for their presence.
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