Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said government will not allow any political or bureaucratic interference in its drive to curb smuggling, corruption, power theft and tax evasion in country.

“No political and bureaucratic influence will be allowed to interfere in this major surgery which we have to undertake collectively for good of Pakistan and its 250 million people,” he said while chairing meeting on anti-smuggling drive.

He said it was important to understand real challenges of country and then immediately fix them to revive and stabilise economy.

For this, he said all stakeholders including provinces, institutions and armed forces will have to collaborate with federal government to tackle one of most important challenges of revival of economy.

He said illegal trade and smuggling were biggest challenges that had badly dented country’s economy.

He recalled that in 2022, coalition government allowed export of 250,000 tons of sugar, but it had to withdraw its decision “Because we were told that surplus target was not up to that level”. However, he said same amount of sugar was later exported to Afghanistan.

Similarly, he pointed out that country had to face losses of around Rs 400 to Rs 500 billion annually in terms of power theft, whereas leakages, transmission losses and line losses of electricity were other than that.

As regards to tax revenues, he said government’s target this year was Rs 9 trillion. However, it has potential to collect Rs 4 trillion in extra revenues by streamlining tax system and curbing corruption and tax evasion.

He said tax amount of Rs 2.7 trillion was still under litigation either in tribunals or in appellant courts. Government, he said, would try its best to recover this amount.

Appreciating efforts of Chief of Army Staff in curbing smuggling and power theft, he said during nine months of interim government, an amount of Rs 58 billion was saved in power sector.

Besides taking reforms in certain sectors, he said government was also committed to promoting industry and agriculture sector in country.

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 30 2024

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