The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance has objected to the preferential treatment given to the Chinese companies in terms of taxes and duties over local industries. The issue was raised during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance chaired by Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh. While taking suggestions from the local industries, the meeting came across their concerns regarding preferential treatment to the Chinese companies in the projects.

The committee discussed the challenges to local wire and cable manufacturers and supported the viewpoint of the local cable industry and recommended that local wire and cable manufacturers should be considered in zero-rated tax net. The committee further recommended that proposal received from cable sector should be sent to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for further consideration. The cable manufactures complained that they are unable to compete with Chinese companies which bring 80 per cent raw material of finish import from China at zero per cent while the local cable manufactures are not treated under zero rated regime.

The committee discussed the issues of dairy sector and recommended that dairy sector should be considered on zero rating instead of exemption of tax, while representatives of Karachi Timber Merchant Group briefed the committee on their proposals. The committee chairman stated that their proposals would be forwarded to the FBR for their consideration to incorporate them in the upcoming budget.

The committee was informed by the representatives of Pakistan Plastic Manufacturer Association that their proposals regarding customs tariff of polymeric MDI have already been recommended to the FBR. On the issue of pensioners, the president of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has assured the committee that issues relating to pensioners would be taken up in the board meeting for its positive solution shortly.

The committee was informed by the director National Accountability Bureau about the actions taken by the NAB after filing the reference of NBP Bangladesh scam against the accused. The committee recommended that details of the actions taken by the NAB in this regard may be provided to it. The committee considered "The Auditor General''s (Functions, Powers and Terms & Conditions of Service) (Amendment) Bill, 2017)" and recommended that the bill may be passed by the National Assembly as reported by the Standing Committee.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Saeed Ahmed Khan Manais, Sheikh Fayyaz-ud-Din, Mian Abdul Manan, Syed Mustafa Mehmud, Asad Umar, Sajida Begum, and Sher Akbar Ali Khan. Senior officers from the Ministry of Finance & Revenue, NBP, SBP and AGP were also present on the occasion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017