Commerce minister irked at import tariffs

Says current policies of FBR and import duty key reason behind falling exports.

ISLAMABAD: Raising his voice against the country’s irresponsible import tariffs and policies of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan has criticised the existing regime, stating that ever increasing tariffs are hurting the economy.

Khan said that the government must realise that customs duties and tariffs cannot be a source of revenue.

“In Pakistan, average tariff is 30% or above and when a country is depended on higher tariffs, it cannot lower them.”

He said that in some policies such as fiscal issues including exchange rate, refunds and domestic taxes, the commerce ministry is helpless and these ought to be resolved by the FBR.

Khan said zero rating for five sectors has been announced in the federal budget in accordance with the commitment of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in February 2016 to be implemented from July 1, 2016 as the finance minister has promised to clear refunds by September 30, 2016.



“I have written a letter to finance minister that zero rating should be at zero per cent so that the five sectors should become completely independent from the refunds circle,” he added.

The refunds claims are hovering around Rs210 billion and Rs300 billion. However, FBR claims that the amount of refunds is Rs85 billion.

Talking about regional trade, Khan said that Central Asian countries especially Tajikistan believe that their main route of trade passes through Afghanistan and if the trade route is compromised due to Afghanistan’s internal issues, then they should opt for the China route.

According to the minister, he has offered Tajikistan to conclude the third country neutral trade agreement which implies that the name of the third country as transit route will be kept blank.

Tajikistan’s minister for energy, who recently visited Pakistan, gave a positive response, saying his government will consider this option.

Khan also gave some insight on the proposed trilateral agreement between Pakistan- Afghanistan-Tajikistan, saying that it is currently not an option since Afghanistan wants India to be part of it which is unacceptable to Islamabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2016.

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