President Alvi urges traders to pay taxes

President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday called on the public and private sectors to join hands in supporting the government’s efforts for the documentation of national economy.

He urged businessmen to play an active role in encouraging the business community to pay taxes so that budget deficit could be reduced and more funds could be allocated for development work. Talking to a delegation of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Alvi said that the government was committed to providing a competitive and fair business environment to entrepreneurs and building a sustainable economy.

He stated that the government was taking care of the business community and under-privileged sections of society and, in this regard, had provided a historic stimulus package of Rs1.2 trillion as economic relief to help the business community and poor strata of society.

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The president assured the delegation that he would ask the quarters concerned to help address their problems. He said that the country’s economy despite the pandemic was performing well as was evident from the increase in tax collection and surge in exports.

Expressing satisfaction over the economic performance, the president said that the country’s exports in the last 10 months grew 13% to $20.879 billion as compared to $18.408 billion in the corresponding period of last year.

Similarly, revenue collection exceeded its target of Rs3.637 trillion by more than Rs143 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.

He stated that business-friendly policies of the government led to improvement in the Ease of Doing Business Index.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2021.

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