LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Monday called for barter trade with Iran as unchecked and unprecedented smuggling is not only widening the trade deficit but also causing huge losses to the exchequer.
Farooq Iftikhar, president of the LCCI, was talking to a 10-member delegation of the Pakistan Plastic Manufacturers Association (PPMA).The LCCI president said that the government did not need to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank for funds if smuggling is controlled.

Smuggling of plastic moulding compound and finished products from Iran had pushed the plastic trade and industry on the verge of collapse, he said.A large number of businessmen associated with the plastic business were now planning to shift their businesses to other countries as repeated appeals by the LCCI, the government and other authorities concerned had failed to yield any results, he said.

Iftikhar said that after electricity and gas shortages, the smuggling had now started taking its toll on businesses, therefore, the government should utilise all available resources to weed out this menace.

He suggested the government to start barter trade with Iran in order to eliminate smuggling, adding that a few years ago, India was facing the same situation and it started barter trade with Iran to check smuggling.

The LCCI president urged the FBR chairman to bring down the rate of sales tax to five percent from 16 percent on plastic moulding compound.By curtailing the sales tax rate to five percent, the government would be able to generate more revenue. Due to higher tax rate, much of the money is going into the pockets of smugglers who are thriving at the cost of the country, he said.

Muhammad Shoaib, president of the Pakistan Plastic and Manufacturers Association, said that it is unfortunate that, on the one hand, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is playing arm-twisting with the exiting taxpayers, while, on the other, the menace of smuggling is fast spreading its tentacles under their watch and at the cost of the national exchequer.

By The News International

 

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