Islamabad:
The National Finance Committee of the Assembly Assembly raised several questions about sugar imports and the provision of tax exemptions during its meeting chaired by Syed Naveed Qamar.
The Committee also occupied several articles of the Legislative Agenda, including the bill of the Parliamentary Budget Office and an adjustment proposed to the Corporate Social Responsibility Law.
The members also interrogated officials about a meeting between the government and commercial representatives on certain budgetary measures.
When addressing the issue of sugar imports, the president requested clarifications from officials. The president of the Federal Income Board (FBR), Rashid Langial, replied that the Ministry of National Food Security would be in a better position to respond. However, Qamar insisted that the FBR must have played a role.
Langial explained that the FBR had implemented the federal cabinet decision to reduce sales tax from 18% and 20% of customs rights in sugar imports. “Tax reduction and sugar tariffs reduces its price in the local market,” he told the committee.
However, the president of the committee suggested that the government should withdraw from participation in the sugar sector, because there was no shortage of merchandise in the country.
The member of the Javed Hanif committee asked about the position of international monetary funds (IMF} about the importation of sugar. In response, the federal federal secretary of Federal Finance, Imdad Ullah Bosal, said they were negotiating with the lender, and added that the Government would have to implement the conditionalities of the IMF.
Later, the president raised a consultation on the conversations between the government and the businessmen on the issue of his protest. The Minister of State for Finance, Bilal Azhar Kayani, replied that conversations were held on Tuesday and a committee was established to find a solution to the controversial issues within a month.
Meanwhile, the meeting presented a subcommittee report on the Corporate Social Responsibility Law. When reviewing the amendments to the law, the Committee was told that the Pakistan Stock Exchange and Securities Commission (SECP) opposed the amendments.
The president of SECP informed the committee that these amendments would increase the operating costs for companies. However, the president pointed out that corporate social responsibility could not only remain to the discretion of the private sector.
The Chief of the SECP said the problem had emerged only for oil and gas companies, but that it applied to all companies. The Secretary of Finance supported the SECP dispute, saying that “doing so would increase the cost of production of companies.”
The member of the Nafisa Shah committee said that companies were already paying 18% of sales on sales and super taxes, however, the Ministry of Finance seemed to specifically object to the expense of the social sector. He added that, although the law requires companies to assign 1% of their profits to CSR, many were spending beyond that threshold.
State Minister Kayani suggested that the Ministry of Finance and the SECP should bring their proposals after consulting with companies. The member of the Mirza Ikhtiar Baig committee said that all cameras of commerce and industry and multinational companies were consulted on this law.
The Secretary of Finance asked the committee for a while to consider the matter.
