Unwelcome: Gems exporters slate new registration fee policy

Claim it is against the interests of the business community.

PESHAWAR: The All Pakistan Commercial Association of Gems Exporters has stridently criticised the new policy of charging a registration fee of Rs30,000 for preparing a passbook and the enforcement of general sales tax from the current month.

Talking to journalists at Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, the association’s chairman Rashid Qadeer said the government had announced a registration fee of Rs30,000 for every exporter for the preparation of the passbook. He said exporters were not ready to pay the fee because it was against the interests of the business community and the country.

Qadeer said they have rejected the registration fee of Rs30,000 as it is beyond the means of the poor gems exporters. He claimed that if implemented, the measure will adversely affect businesses, resulting in losses of precious foreign exchange, all the while increasing unemployment.

The association appealed to the prime minister, federal finance and commerce ministers to reverse the decision in the best interest of the country, especially Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which is already hit hard by terrorism and an energy crisis.

On the occasion, executive members of the association including Haji Mamoor Khan, Farhan Khan, Haji Faqir Hussain and Atif Rashid Khwaja were also present among others.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2014.