Federal Budget 2020-21 is balanced,realistic and a relief budget

Multan, June 13th: Renowned industrialist and former president of Chamber of Commerce and Industry Multan & Dera Ghazi Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi on Friday termed the proposed federal budget for FY 2020-21 "by no means a 'relief budget' and termed it as tax-free and balanced in prevailing circumstances in light of COVID-19 impact. Commenting on the Federal budget 2020-21 here today Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi said that Pakistan's economy is going through a challenging phase due to the outbreak of global COVID-19 pandemic. The most impacted section of our society is the businesses. The manufacturers, traders, retailers, importers/exporters, and other segments of the business community are in distress and facing huge financial losses due to the current emergency situation as no business activity is going on in the country. He hailed the reforms for ease of doing business and said that the measures introduced in the budget would help to set a proper direction of the national economy,"  He welcomed the reduction in regulatory duty on smuggling prone items to bring these items under legal imports, regulatory duty on several industrial inputs is also being reduced to decrease their cost of doing business, tariff protection for the domestic industry by increasing/levy of regulatory duty on import of those items which are also locally manufactured, incentivizing soap manufacturing industry by reducing the rate of additional customs duty on palm stearin and enhancing the scope of concessions available to Special Economic Zones.
Roomi lauded the government for increasing the slab of turnover tax from Rs 50, 000 to Rs 100,000, saying that the finance ministry should also abolish the condition of identity card for traders on their turnover tax.
He said the cost of industrial production should be reduced by 40 percent if the government wants jobs and better output from the industrial sector. Similarly, he said, the budget also failed to seek a reduction in unemployment. However, he appreciated the government for scaling down duty on the import of raw material and industrial machinery.
"The export sectors really demanded of the government to restore zero-rating status," that was also shrugged off. He said that if the government could not restore the zero-rating status to the exports sectors then it should have reduced the sales tax to four percent at least. Jalaluddin Roomi said, adding that the growing issues from Covid-19, the country's textile exports will collapse under the 17 percent sales tax burden. "No systems in place for a refund whatsoever," he said.
"Energy cost is not sustainable," to support the industrial growth, he said, adding that the companies under huge financial losses from Covid-19 will have to pay turnover tax as well. "This will result in a lot of companies going bankrupt," he said, adding that the making of tax target achievable without stimulus will remain 'impossible'.
He suggested that the Government should take measures on war footing grounds to eliminate the locust swarm to save the nation from famine besides the allocation of maximum incentives for the agriculture sector which is the only mean of survival.
He said all sectors have importance and the government should provide incentives and relief, but manufacturing is crucial for the employment generation and promotion of the domestic economy. In this budget, he said manufacturing has been neglected. "Wealth creation is not possible without industrialization and transformation of society," he said.
Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi suggested the allocation of more funds for health sector and special incentives for frontline Doctos and Paramedics who were serving the infected people at the cost of their lives.