The CEO and President of Bank of Punjab Zafar Masud on Tuesday addressing to the webinar of BoP titled ‘Exploring Pakistan’s Economic Landscape’ said that Pakistan’s elites need to realize the starting point is there for them to squeeze themselves and come out of rent seeking mindset.
The speakers were BoP Group Chief Corporate and Banking Farid Ahmed Khan, BoP Chief Risk Officer Arsalan Iqbal, BoP Chief Financial Officer Nadeem Amir, BoP Group head Strategy and Strategic Initiatives Nofel Daud and Syed Sayem Ali Chief Economist.
Zafar Masud is a PIA aircraft crash survivor.
Zafar Masud responding to the question. About budget said that 18th amendment needed to be reviewed and nobody was looking at it as out of Rs9.2 trillion revenue collection, Rs3.5 trillion will away to the provinces, while Rs2.8 trillion is about non-tax revenues.
He said collectively Rs7.5 trillion out of Rs12 trillion is alone debt servicing and the biggest culprits are interest rates and devaluation while the second large number is SOEs and the circular debt.
“And the last thing comes to my mind us the pension number which is Rs1.7 trillion,” he added.
Zafar Masud said with sales tax and withholding tax, everybody in Pakistan pays tax, but the structure of the taxation needs to be looked at.
He said Pakistan needs to do away with the subsidies. He said subsidies should only be given to two sectors including poor and vulnerable and the export sector.
BoP President urged policy makers to move away from populist slogans
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— The Bank of Punjab (@thebankofpunjab) June 20, 2023
