Tarin says must avoid ‘begging’ IMF for loans

KARACHI:

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin on Saturday stressed the need to revive the country’s economy in order to avoid approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other countries to “beg” for loans.

“We want to get out of the circle of repeatedly going to the IMF and other countries to beg for loans,” the minister said while inaugurating the Kamyab Jawan Markaz at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

“The PTI’s economic policy is inclusive and sustainable growth for the next 20 to 30 years so that we can get out of the situation we are in now,” he added.

“Pakistan — a country of more than 200 million people — needs some drastic steps to improve its economy.”

On the occasion, the federal minister said that the government had started another programme named the Kamyab Pakistan Programme (KPP), which had currently been launched in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

It was a big programme amounting to Rs1.4 trillion, he said adding that the KPP was being launched across the country from February 16.

The minister said when he was working at an international private bank, employees belonging to 24 nationalities were working under him and Pakistanis were at par with all of them.

“We have the resilience but not the level playing field.” Tarin maintained that only three million people in the country paid their taxes. One million out of those three million pay withholding tax. That means only two million people pay their taxes. In total, 38 million can pay taxes and now we have data of those people so we will broaden the tax net.”

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The minister claimed the country’s retail sector was worth of Rs18 trillion to Rs20 trillion while in the government’s books, it was only Rs3.5 trillion to Rs4 trillion.

“We will bring the rest of the retailers worth Rs16 trillion by introducing fixed taxes under a certain threshold. The FBR [Federal Bureau of Revenue] raids on businessmen are old culture that needs to be changed too.”

Tarin further maintained that the government had recently cleared duty drawback on local taxes and levies refund claims worth Rs100 million.

For inclusive growth, the minister said, the government was focusing on four to five productive areas including agriculture, information technology, housing, trade, etc. “This will give us 5% GDP growth and in future it can take us 6% to 7% too.”

Tarin said in all this process of growth, the government would not leave the people at the bottom of the pyramid to wait for trickle down effects. “That’s too late. The people have been waiting for those effects for last 75 years; now we will work our way from bottom to up.”

Speaking about the Kamyab Jawan Programme, Tarin said it was a base for that bottom to up growth.

“There is another scheme named Kamyab Pakistan Programme, which now exists in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan to lift the youth of those areas.”

Elaborating further on Kamyab Pakistan Programme, the minister said under the scheme, interest-free loans would be provided to growers and families to set up small businesses and develop technical skills.

“Under this programme, Rs30 to Rs40 billion would be spent every three months and around Rs120 to Rs140 billion per annum.”

Tarin added that a package was being introduced for small-medium enterprises (SMEs) this week.

The minister said Prime Minister Imran Khan in his visit to China had asked its leadership to help now in populating the country’s special economic zones by bringing Chinese companies here. “We also have invited China to invest in our IT sector,” he added. “This year, our IT sector is going to achieve 70% growth but we want 100% growth rate so we can achieve $50 billion IT export soon.”

Businessmen Group (BMG) Chairman Zubair Motiwala, KCCI President Muhammad Idrees and Special Assistant to PM on Youth Affairs Usman Dar were also present on the occasion.