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| Sunday, 24 March 2002 |
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Business
seeks quick action
by SUREKHA GALAGODA The business community has described the maiden budget of the United National Front (UNF) Government presented by Finance Minister K.N. Choksy as progressive and development oriented but said that speedy implementation is vital for a kickstart to the economy. President of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry Sri Lanka (FCCISL), Macky Hashim, said that the budget was development oriented and its main objective was to revive the economy fast. He said that the removal of taxes was a big boon since it would reduce the cost of living and generate more sales for businesses. By introducing the VAT instead of all other taxes people would be able to save around 13% as they were paying around 23% earlier as taxes. Increasing the PAYE tax limit would help the private sector employees to either save or spend the money, which in turn would activate economic momentum in the country thereby increasing employment opportunities. Mr. Hashim said that his only worry was 'parate' executions imposed on small and medium scale industries by the banks. He said that SMIs who have taken loans up to Rs. 10 million must be given a grace period of one year to pay back the capital with the interest taken off. This would encourage them to return to economic activity, he noted. Resident representative of the IMF, Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque, described budget 2002 as good and said that quick and speedy implementation was important to achieve the targets set out in the budget. The government's plans to reform the labour, finance and tax administration as well, the plans to reduce the fiscal deficit by 2% of GDP from 10.5% to 8.5% were encouraging, he added. Chairman of Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association, Rajan Cassiechetty, described the budget as very progressive, interesting and exciting. He said that the new income tax system would help prevent brain drain from the country. "The budget together with the initiatives of the government such as discussions with the US and European Union are welcome and positive signs for the industry", he said. President of National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) Chandra Embuldeniya said that the budget had not only concentrated on the short-term but on the long-term as well. He said that the introduction of the VAT would bring down the prices of
essentials and reduce inflation while the entire tax system in the new
budget was development oriented.Vice President National Chamber of
Exporters (NCE) Mr. Kingsley Bernardsaid that the budget proposals were
good as it had looked at the entire economy but implementation was vital
for it to be effective. Eliminating the complexities of the present tax
system would help save energy, time, resources while implementation would
become practicable. |
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