ARY News reported on Friday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the sales tax on solar energy installations to be withdrawn immediately after stressing the need to focus on alternative energy projects.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, speaking to officials at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) today, said the 17 percent sales tax on solar power systems should be withdrawn immediately.
He ordered Finance Minister Miftah Ismail to make an announcement about the sales tax rollback. Miftah Ismail, who was also present at the KCCI event, assured the Prime Minister that he would end sales tax.
Prime Minister Sharif said Pakistan could not afford to spend $20 billion worth of oil and gas. He stressed the need to focus on alternative energy projects to deal with electricity shortages.
He said we have ample resources of solar and wind that can resolve our electricity issues.
The premier said he would have saluted the previous government if it had taken practical steps to shift to solar energy projects.
PM Shehbaz Sharif has blamed the previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for providing zero relief to the ordinary person during its 3.5year tenure.
He asked economists to give their opinion on improving the current economic situation. Prime Minister Sharif said he came to Karachi to learn more about the national economy’s real problems than political score points. He said Pakistan has a vast credit burden.
The previous government had borrowed 22,000 trillion rupees and increased 80% of the loans in the last 3.5 years.
He also blamed the PTI government for the load cuts, saying if the country’s power outages have ended, why have they resumed? He also questioned the PTI government to provide details of Rs 22,000 crore loan spending. “I have imposed a luxury goods ban. We have not increased the duty. It’s a difficult phase, and we have to sacrifice ourselves first.
The Prime Minister said that the rupee would soon stabilize. He said businesspeople are the great architects of Pakistan, and if they want to change Pakistan’s fate, they will do so. Otherwise, the crisis will never change.
