According to these circles, the fertilizer prices are highest in the region despite the fact that the fertilizer manufacturers are being provided with subsidized gas. "Only the availability of cheaper inputs will bring relief to domestic consumers and also earn foreign exchange for the country," they stressed. The tax experts agree that the agenda cannot be achieved in short-term but they have demanded a resolve to get cogent measures to ensure a quantum jump in export proceeds ahead. It may be noted that the government has been taking different measures to boost exports of traditional sectors particularly the textile and leather. But still these sectors have a limited share in global trade.
A very wise step was taken in the Trade Policy 2016-18 with an emphasis on commodity specific and country specific strategy. This strategy not only specified the regions including the Central Asian States (CAS) and Middle East but also specified the commodities like rice, milk, fruit and meat. However, the strategy failed to find any share in export viability package announced in January 2017.
The tax experts have pointed out that Pakistan has limited potential to develop engineering goods which has more than 60 percent share in the global trade. They said no tangible steps have been taken to encourage export of electrical goods to the CAS and the booming markets like UAE and Qatar.
They said these important sectors have unfortunately found no priority in government policies. Similarly, they added that no steps have been taken to encourage exports of sugar, wheat and rice after processing them into different products. One agronomics expert pointed out that Pakistan possesses superior quality of kinnoos and mangoes but we have hardly a few manufacturing plants to extract and preserve pulp.
The tax experts have told this scribe that the agriculture sector in Australia and New Zealand is zero-rated and it is highly subsidized in India. They have suggested import of agriculture-relating plants and machinery on zero duty like the textile machinery.
The dairy and meat sectors carry export potential, as Pakistan is among a few countries in the world which can provide kosher meat. It has tremendous demand in the Middle East and the EU countries where sizable Muslim population resides. They have pointed out that the fodder used for the livestock is loaded with federal and local taxes.
According to them, cement is also a booming business and recently its exports to India have suffered heavily. They said both the gypsum and gas for the cement industry are heavily taxable inputs. This industry can also contribute heavily if taxes are rationalized in the upcoming budget, they added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017