SME sector has $40 bln exports potential: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: According to Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives, the nation’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have the potential to generate about $40 billion annually through businesses focused on exports.

He emphasized the importance of improving the tax collection system and boosting the nation’s exports on a sustained and aggressive basis while speaking at a Karandaaz report-launching ceremony via zoom link. “We must encourage the export culture in the nation.” He claimed that the current administration was facing significant economic difficulties that could be overcome by a taxation system that worked well, an increase in exports, the effective use of foreign remittances, and foreign investment.

The minister said the federal government’s tax-revenue and non-tax revenue stood at Rs5,200 billion, whereas “we inherited Rs5,000 billion liability on account of debt payment.” Ahsan Iqbal vowed that the government was committed to taking the tax-GDP rate from 9.5 per cent to 18 per cent with its prudent economic policies. He was of the view that the country would have to explore new resources to increase its income, otherwise all generated revenue would be spent in the debt servicing. The minister suggested that foreign remittances should be used in different businesses instead of investing in the real estate sector as ” the government is taking steps to facilitate investment in business.”