Regulatory body: ECC panel to revisit automobile policy

Import policy and industry practices to be reviewed to protect consumer rights.

ISLAMABAD:

The government on Wednesday constituted a panel to revisit the automobile policy aimed at checking skyrocketing prices of locally-assembled vehicles, improving quality standards and putting an end to continuous financial exploitation of buyers by local assemblers.

The panel, constituted by Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, could end up as a ray of hope for customers often left at the mercy of car assemblers. However, in the past other governments too tried to address the issue of financial exploitation by the car assemblers, but all such efforts failed amid allegations of taking kick-backs.

The incumbent Speaker National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, had said in a Public Accounts Committee meeting that Rs970 million were paid in bribes to reduce the import limit for old cars from five years to three years.



The panel on revision of automobile policy will be headed by Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Mohammad Asif, Chairman Board of Investment (BOI), Muhammad Zubair, as its vice chairman, and will include chief executive Engineering Development Board (EDB), chairman FBR and secretary Ministry of Industries and Production. The panel will give its report in 45 days.

While talking to The Express Tribune, chairman BOI Zubair said that the committee will review all aspects of the automobile sector including pricing, quality controls and the issue of buyers’ deposits that car assemblers retain for months before making deliveries. The existing car import policy will also be subject to review.

He added however that the committee will not make any recommendation which may be perceived as anti-business and a balance will be struck between consumer protection and industry rights.

The ECC also observed that Pakistan achieved all benchmarks agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the first quarter of the financial year, according to a finance ministry handout.

There were no official words on net foreign assets (NFA) and net domestic assets (NDA) targets agreed with the IMF, but there were indications that these targets would be met comfortably. The NFA target was Rs127 billion while the NDA target was Rs2.877 trillion. The government has already met the condition of increasing power tariffs for all types of consumers.

However, the ECC was informed that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) missed its first quarter revenue collection target and could pool only Rs481 billion including refunds. Its net quarterly target was Rs492 billion excluding refunds that the FBR authorities were blocking to show higher than actual growth.

The ECC also approved the release of a second tranche of 75,000 metric tons of wheat through the World Food Programme (WFP) to ensure continued food support to 175,500 displaced families in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The ECC approved the import of 500,000 tons of urea fertiliser for Rabi Season from the open international market by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan in two shipments of 300,000 tons in November 2013 and 200,000 tons in December 2013.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2013.

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