KARACHI: A senior official of a representative body of foreign investors in Pakistan on Wednesday demanded predictable, transparent and consistent economic policies to strengthen international investment in the country.
The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) represents over 200 members from 35 different countries and operates in 14 different sectors of trade and industry in Pakistan.
Its member companies generated $37 billion in revenue during the last year and paid about $9 billion in taxes. These firms have also invested over $18.5 billion in new capital expenditure since 2012.
“We have submitted comprehensive proposals to the government for the upcoming fiscal budget, 2022-23, to promote business culture, foreign direct investment, ease of doing business and broadening the tax base,” the OICCI secretary general, Abdul Aleem, told journalists in Karachi.
The chamber presented industry specific tax proposals to promote manufacturing and optimize revenue collection in the country.
Aleem said his team also recommended rationalization of the minimum tax regime by immediately reducing it to 0.25 percent for businesses dealing in sectors with high turnover and low margins.
“The members of OICCI have asked for rationalizing the complex withholding tax regime … as it is negatively impacting ease of doing business for all compliant taxpayers, especially in the manufacturing and service sectors,” he said.
The chamber has emphasized reduction of recurring audits, examinations, reviews and recovery proceedings. In one of its recent surveys, its members also showed concern over delayed tax refunds which it suggested should be settled within 45 days while legally allowing inter-adjustment of income and sales tax refunds.
The OICCI has also recommended enhanced use of technology and data mining by leveraging substantial information with the country’s tax collection agency, the federal board of revenue (FBR), in relation to registered and unregistered businesses.
It maintained the FBR should use such information to broaden the tax net, instead of penalizing tax compliant sectors by disallowing their legitimate expenses.
Pakistani and foreign business tycoons and industrialists have long complained about inconsistent economic policies that affect long-term business models and plans.
“Sudden surprises have become a major problem in Pakistan,” the OICCI vice president, Amir Paracha, told journalists, adding: “Such policy shifts affect long term business plans of companies.”
The top chamber officials denied the implementation of their proposals would reduce revenue generation, adding it would have the opposite impact.
They also informed that the OICCI had not asked for any reduction in corporate tax rate, though it had emphasized that no new taxes should be levied during the year until they were to remove some anomalies or end some of the measures introduced through the supplementary budget implemented in the beginning of the year.
Foreign investors' representative body submits tax, business proposals to Pakistan to rationalise economic policies
https://arab.news/2gq6g
Foreign investors' representative body submits tax, business proposals to Pakistan to rationalise economic policies
- The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry wants rationalization of withholding tax for ease of business
- The chamber has presented industry specific tax proposals to optimize revenue collection in the country
India and Pakistan set for World Cup blockbuster as boycott averted
- With bilateral cricket a casualty of their relations, emotions run high whenever the neighbors meet in multi-team events
- For Pakistan, opener Sahibzada Farhan has looked in fine form but Babar Azam’s strike rate continues to polarize opinion
India and Pakistan will clash in the Twenty20 World Cup in Colombo on Sunday, still feeling the aftershocks of a tumultuous fortnight in which Pakistan’s boycott threat — later reversed — nearly blew a hole in the tournament’s marquee fixture.
With bilateral cricket a casualty of their fraught relations, emotions run high whenever the bitter neighbors lock horns in multi-team events at neutral venues.
India’s strained relations with another neighbor, Bangladesh, have further tangled the geopolitics around the World Cup.
When Bangladesh were replaced by Scotland in the 20-team field for refusing to tour India over safety concerns, the regional chessboard shifted.
Pakistan decided to boycott the Group A contest against India in solidarity with Bangladesh, jeopardizing a lucrative fixture that sits at the intersection of sport, commerce, and geopolitics.
Faced with the prospect of losing millions of dollars in evaporating advertising revenue, the broadcasters panicked. The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) held hectic behind-the-scenes parleys and eventually brokered a compromise to salvage the tournament’s most sought-after contest.
Strictly on cricketing merit, however, the rivalry has been one-sided.
Defending champions India have a 7-1 record against Pakistan in the tournament’s history and they underlined that dominance at last year’s Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
India beat Pakistan three times in that single event, including a stormy final marred by provocative gestures and snubbed handshakes.
Former India captain Rohit Sharma does not believe in the “favorites” tag, especially when the arch-rivals clash.
“It’s such a funny game,” Rohit, who led India to the title in the T20 World Cup two years ago, recently said.
“You can’t just go and think that it’s a two-point victory for us. You just have to play good cricket on that particular day to achieve those points.”
INDIA’S EDGE
Both teams have opened their World Cup campaigns with back-to-back wins, yet India still appear to hold a clear edge.
Opener Abhishek Sharma and spinner Varun Chakravarthy currently top the batting and bowling rankings respectively.
Abhishek is doubtful for the Pakistan match though as he continues to recover from a stomach infection that kept him out of their first two matches.
Ishan Kishan has reinvented himself as a top-order linchpin, skipper Suryakumar Yadav has regained form, while Rinku Singh has settled into the finisher’s role in India’s explosive lineup.
Mystery spinner Chakravarthy and the ever-crafty Jasprit Bumrah anchor the spin and pace units, while Hardik Pandya’s all-round spark is pivotal.
For Pakistan, opener Sahibzada Farhan has looked in fine form but Babar Azam’s strike rate continues to polarize opinion.
Captain Salman Agha will bank on spin-bowling all-rounder Saim Ayub, but the potential trump card is off-spinner Usman Tariq, whose slinging, side-arm action has intrigued opponents and fans alike.
