Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that inflation was a temporary phenomenon that will start coming down in a few days.
Addressing the launching ceremony of the National Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Policy, he said that the government had decided to take strict action against all those responsible for hampering SME growth.
Criticizing the previous governments, he regretted that in the past, no government had ever cared for extending incentives and facilities to the SME sector.
“The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government is according due importance to the SME sector. The sector is a key constituent of the economy and its empowerment would help strengthen the economic outlook and create job opportunities in the country,” he added.
The PM identified difficulties faced by small businesses in getting loans and credits as one of the reasons behind it not contributing to the GDP to its full potential.
He stressed the need to facilitate the youth in getting loans for new startups. “It is important that the government facilitate the youth [in getting] credit,” the PM explained while encouraging the private sector to make venture capital investments.
Besides difficulties in borrowing from banks and getting credit, another problem they face is high price of land, he said. “The land is so expensive in cities that it is difficult for them to buy property to establish a setup,” the PM elaborated, adding that the government was now giving them land on lease as part of its efforts to facilitate them.
Yet another problem, he said, was red-tapism.
To address this, “our government has decided that we will take action against any department found to be creating hurdles for an enterprise, [be it] associated with the agriculture, industrial or services [sector], that creates employment,” he added. “We will take action against anyone creating hurdles for them.” Turning his attention to exports, he said, “We feel ashamed that countries like Singapore, which has a much smaller population than Pakistan, have surpassed us in terms of exports. Their export to population ratio is much higher than that of Pakistan,” he noted.
“So we have to focus on exports and we will give special preference to [entities] that export. All of the government’s orientation will be towards wealth creation now and SMEs have a big role to play in this regard,” the premier said. He also recounted the problems his government faced at the beginning of its tenure.
Expressing hope that the government would exceed the tax target of Rs8,000 billion he intended to achieve during the five-year tenure of his regime, PM Khan said work was being done with the help of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to develop a system for identifying persons and entities that didn’t pay taxes.
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