KARACHI: Right after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s announcement to apply a 10 per cent super-tax on major industries, the benchmark KSE-100 index crashed by 2,055 points. The super-tax targetted sectors that are operated by the business class of society and include textile, energy & terminal, fertilisers, oil & gas, sugar, cement, steel industry, banking and cigarette.
Right after the opening bell, the stock market faced a downward trend. By noon the KSE-100 index had nosedived by 4.8pc or 2,055 points. The trading stopped for 45 minutes. The PSX rule book dictates that if the index declines by 4.5pc, trading has to be paused immediately for 0.75 hours.
There are speculations that industries which will be subjected to the super-tax will pass on the burden to the end-users.
Leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf criticised the coalition government for applying taxes. They believed that the government was applying taxes to sectors that were already under heavy taxation.
Industry is already facing crippling costs due to rising prices of commodoties and energy. This super tax will be priced in their balance sheets and passed on to the customers in many cases. Means even higher prices for the public. https://t.co/4op4vlgKg1
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) June 24, 2022
جب وزیراعظم اور وزیر خزانہ کی میڈیا سے گفتگو کے بعد اسٹاک مارکیٹ بری طرح کریش کر جائے اورکرنسی کی قدر بری طرح کم ہو جائے ان حالات سےحکومت پر اعتماد کا اندازہ لگایا جاسکتا ہے،حکومت کی معاشی پالیسیاں پاکستان کو دیوالیہ کر رہی ہیں اس ٹولےسے جلد از جلد نجات ہی پاکستان کامفاد ہے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) June 24, 2022
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