Pandemic dealt serious damage to economy, public must be given relief: Finance Minister
Pandemic dealt serious damage to economy, public must be given relief: Finance Minister
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has said that the coronavirus pandemic has had a major negative impact on the Pakistani economy. In such a situation, the government cannot put its people through more hardship.
In an exclusive interview with Dunya News program "Dunya Kamran Khan Kay Saath", Shaukat Tarin said that Pakistan has to improve the growth rate. “We want to take it to 4.5-5 percent by 2022, while we will increase it to 6.5-7 percent by 2023”, he added.
Answering a question, the Finance Minister said that there are some very good people in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). Many people do not want to pay taxes because of harassment. Now, people will not be harassed. Those who are paying taxes will not be harassed while those who are not paying taxes have to be brought into the tax net.
He said that there should be taxation on income and consumption; however, the withholding tax will be gradually withdrawn. Only those with an income will be taxed, he added.
Shaukat Tarin said that no attention was paid to agriculture in the last ten years. “We are now focusing on housing, agriculture, power and IT sectors and bringing better policies regarding agriculture”, he said.
In reply to a question, he said that targets can be met through the manufacturing and housing sectors. Efforts are being made to increase revenue while there is also great focus on bringing improvements in the power sector, he added.
Talking about the coronavirus situation in Pakistan, he said that the economic woes worsened due to the virus outbreak and that there were many challenges. However, he expressed hope that the ten-day Eid-ul-Fitr vacations would improve the deteriorating situation.
Earlier in the day, Shaukat Tarin addressed a press conference and said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program has some tough conditions which will also have a political cost.
He said that Pakistan has not left the IMF program but the country will ask it to loosen some of its conditions. We will ask IMF to give some space and to not give any targets; however, the government will try its best to increase the revenue.
He stressed on giving more importance to CPEC and said that China has spent a massive sum on infrastructure of Pakistan and government is also asking the country to set up its companies in Pakistan.
Talking about issues faced by taxpayers, Shaukat Tarin said that FBR did a good job but some cases of harassment were also reported and meanwhile NAB has no idea about some issues too. We will have to convince NAB on how things work, he added.
He further added that in next budget, it will be ensured that people who become taxpayers do not face any harassment.
