Jewellery exports come to a halt

Exporters considering going to court against ban on gold imports.

KARACHI: The export of 650 kilogrammes of jewellery is at stake as a continuous ban on the import of gold has hampered efforts to deliver orders on time, exporters say. They will go to court to seek relief if the government does not lift the restriction on imports.

The government had issued a statutory regulatory order (SRO) in September last year to put in place strict rules and regulations for gold import in an effort to stop the outflow of foreign exchange. According to the exporters, they booked 16 orders for export of 650 kg of gold jewellery to the US, Britain, Canada and the UAE keeping in view the rules and regulations.



These orders would have brought revenue of $2 million in two months on account of value addition. However, the Economic Coordination Committee’s curbs on gold import for the past two months impeded attempts to ship in gold for jewellery manufacturing.

“Gold jewellery is not being exported for the last two months, causing a loss of millions of dollars to the country,” said All Pakistan Gems Merchants and Jewellers’ Association Chairman Habib Rehman. “Hundreds of factories manufacturing gold jewellery have also stopped work.”

He said 75% of the time given for delivering the orders had lapsed and the importers had warned of legal action and imposition of penalty on the exporters.

If the ban on import was not scrapped, it would also tarnish the image of Pakistani missions abroad as they had certified that the orders were in line with the rules and regulations, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th, 2014.

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