Ministry plans more duties on imports

KARACHI: Government is considering regulatory duties to discourage non-essential imports in the country after it recently slapped levies on them.

Secretary Commerce Younus Dagha on Saturday said the ministry is mulling regulatory duties on more items.

“Regulatory duty would not be withdrawn on food items that are locally manufactured,” Dagha said in a meeting with the members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).

Late last year, the government imposed regulatory duties on nonessential and luxurious items, which are expected to save the country around two billion dollars during the current fiscal year of 2017/18.

The commerce secretary said the government is endeavouring to promote local industry.

“Therefore, import of goods which are already manufactured in the country would not bode well for the industry,” he added.

On bogus trade bodies, the secretary said the ministry of commerce would not “tolerate any fake representation”.

Dagha advised the members to lodge complaints of bogus associations at the Directorate General of Trade Organisations.

The secretary said the country’s liquid foreign exchange position is not good. The exports declined during the past three years. “But, there has been an improvement during the last year,” he added.

Commerce secretary assured the KCCI’s members of resolving the issue of sales tax refunds, which is causing serious liquidity crunch for the industry.

Around Rs25 billion refunds have been released to State Bank of Pakistan and the amounts would directly be transferred to the exporters’ accounts, he said.

Dagha said the government has taken several measures to improve the ease of doing business. The secretary, on inflationary measures, said international oil prices are increasing, which would be passed through in the local markets. Commerce secretary said the government has planned to build an IT tower near Karachi Expo Centre.