MCCI President Hails PM Khan For Economic Recovery, Positive Future Outlook

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Jan, 2022 ) :Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) President Khawaja Muhammad Hussain has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan was making efforts tirelessly to steer the national economy out of troubles and expressed the hopes that the problem of inflation would be over within next few months.

In an interview, he said the recent pause in Dollar exchange price hike was a good development. He said that macroeconomic indicators suggest the economy was moving in the right direction under the given conditions, adding that the best part was that Pakistan has successfully avoided the worst.

The MCCI president attributed the inflation to the pressure from IMF and other lenders seeking repayment of loans. Quoting experts' opinion, he said that the problem of inflation would be overpowered in the next three months.

He underlined the need for expanding tax network by bringing more people under the tax net. He expressed concerns that only 3.8 million people, mostly salaried class, were in the tax net out of a population of 220 million and suggested there are 50 million more who should be part of the tax net. He stressed that people should be brought into the tax net through incentives and facilities which should over-ride their tax-related fears. The people fear that once in the tax net they would have to pay taxes every year even if their statements showed reduced income.

New tax payers should also be exempted from audit for three years, he suggested.

He stressed introduction of laws and rules governing cryptocurrency and introduction of e-transaction facilities like PayPal to facilitate business community overcome hurdles in money transactions to foreign countries and vice versa in Pakistan to strengthen economy.

Khawaja said that cryptocurrency was gaining acceptance and legal cover in foreign countries and there was need to regulate it in the country.

The MCCI president highlighted troubles being confronted by the business community in money transactions to and from foreign countries and stressed that the government should seriously consider bringing international e-transaction facilities to Pakistan like PayPal.

Information Technology was the next milestone traders community of Pakistan has in sight and they are trying to avail the IT facilities in their respective businesses, he said.

Khawaja Muhammad Hussain who is also the chairman of Multan Dry Port Trust (MDPT) said that despite not having a textile city status, Multan's most volume of exports comprises textile products. He said that majority of imports to Multan comprised pesticides. He said that customs used to seize smuggled items like dry milk and Betelnut (Chalia) and stressed on tougher measures to check smuggling to ensure more revenue generation.