LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Tuesday put forth a well-conceived strategy to promote investment in the country.
While addressing a high-profile country-wide delegation from Board of Investment (BoI), the LCCI President Kashif Anwar highlighted the challenges hampering investment in the country. He said that local industry issues should be resolved first to attract foreign investment.
Kashif Anwar said that for the past few years, the business community is facing problems like rupee devaluation, inflationary pressure, high policy rate and high cost of doing business, high energy prices, repeated increase in POL (Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants) prices, MDI charges on closed industrial units, reduction in axle load limit, hike in cargo delivery charges and non-opening of LCs (Letters of Credit). “Settling down all these problems will definitely spur socio-economic development,” he remarked.
He said that Business Facilitation Center is an important initiative of Punjab government und
er which more than 100 services of 20 government departments are available under one roof, adding that Lahore Chamber supports the BFC and encourages its members to avail the facilities there.
Kashif Anwar said that LCCI and BoI are enjoying good working relations, and the BoI is taking commendable initiatives to promote investment, however, it is more important that local investors must also be encouraged.
The LCCI President said that recently, a new condition is imposed by the government according to which retailers, whose withholding tax under Section 236H in 12 months is more than Rs 100,000, must be POS integrated, fearing that this would increase the burden on small retailers and make it more difficult to achieve the desired goals. These actions would directly hurt the manufacturing sector.
He said that before this, the government imposed a condition of sales tax registration for shopkeepers with an area of 1,000 square feet. The LCCI had strongly voiced against it and this condition was withdrawn. H
e mentioned that regulatory, customs duty and additional customs duty should be abolished on the import of essential industrial raw materials and machinery which are not being produced locally.
Kashif Anwar also stressed on the need to reduce the withholding tax rate for the businesses and resolve the issues of pending refunds, bank attachments, enquiries, penalties for late filing of returns and multiple audits. He said that the rate of fines and surcharge should be immediately reduced for the taxpayers.
He suggested that BoI should encourage investment in hydro-power, alternative sources of energy, agriculture, new dams and water reservoirs. He said that Special Economic Zones (SEZs) should be given the status of Special Export Zones. He urged the political parties to get united on the Charter of Economy, and the government should immediately announce a declaration scheme.
The BoI Additional Secretary (Islamabad) Ambreen Iftikhar said that the BoI representatives from all the provinces have come together
with the aim to study the model of Punjab which is designed for the facilitation of investors. She agreed with the LCCI President saying that continuity in policies is a must.
Investment Advisor BoI (Islamabad) Usman Khan said that the board is working on a ReMIT programme with the support of UK government, asserting that the LCCI President has identified issues like import substitution, industrial policy, special economic zones and focus on local investors, therefore, “we want the LCCI to forward its budget proposals to the BoI”.
Usman Khan underscored the imminent influx of regulatory measures expected from the EU (European Union) in the light of escalating concerns surrounding climate change. As the spectre of climate change looms ever larger on the global stage, it is imperative for local industries to proactively embrace sustainable practices and innovate in order to meet these evolving regulatory requirements, he argued.
He added that after climate change and COVID-19, industrial policy has become mo
re necessary. In this regard, the Ministry of Industries and SIFC have given some tasks, the most important of which is the establishment of National Industrial Development and Regulatory Authority (NIDRA).
The delegation included BoI Director Reforms (Islamabad) Mahmood Tufail, BoI Directors (Islamabad) Nadeem Basheer, Mahmood Tufail, and Dr. Qudsia Batul, Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT) Director Dr. Imran Hashmi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade (KPBIT) Director (Business Facilitation) Iqbal Sarwar also spoke on the occasion.