No more pricey gifts

New rules set a relatively low ceiling for the discount rule — anything valued at over $300 must be auctioned

The federal government has made some welcome changes to the rules for handling foreign gifts, which were quite controversial even before Imran Khan’s disqualification for flouting his own ‘stricter’ Toshkhana rules. Imran, as prime minister, had raised the amount that would have to be paid to take home gifts received from foreign dignitaries to 50% of the item’s assessed value, up from the previous 20%. Although there were a few exceptions, notably cash and cars, almost everything received could be — and often was — taken home, and despite the politicking over respect for foreign gifts, the items would often be sold for a profit or, at best, regifted, which may also raise ethical concerns, despite being perfectly legal.

The new rules, however, set a relatively low ceiling for the discount rule — anything valued at over $300 must be auctioned. They also do away entirely with gifts directed at Pakistani officials’ family members. This would, in theory, mean an end to discounted Rolexes and jewellery for our elected leaders, and would help avoid the unnecessary controversies that seem to pop up every few years. The $300 limit is also high enough to cover most souvenirs and other symbolic gifts, while excluding items that could come across as bribes. Also, wealthy politicians that are genuinely interested in high-priced gifts can still bid for them at auction, where recent history has shown that many pricey items still sell for slightly below market value, just not at the same throwaway prices that they had become used to.

The new rules also set a harder timeline for declaration and submission of received gifts — 30 days — and for the government to publicise and allocate or auction the items. A credit to the government is that, at least on first glance, there is nothing in the new rules that could be considered an exploitable loophole. Hopefully, this will lead to more cash for charities and less debate over cars, watches, cigars, and canned pineapples.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2023.

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