10pc tax relief on edible oil import for April-May

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday approved a short-term tax relief of 10pc on the import of edible oil for April-May 2 to ensure its uninterrupted supplies in Ramazan.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin chaired a special meeting on the supply-demand situation of edible oil, especially in the holy month. Officials informed the meeting that retail prices of refined palm oil were highly volatile and had doubled in a year. To deal with the expected shortfall in Ramazan, the finance minister approved the tax relief of 10pc on the import of edible oil for April and May.

Pakistan’s 90 percent ghee/cooking oil demand is met through imports. The government will withdraw the relief after May. Earlier, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet had approved a Rs8 billion Ramazan package to provide relief to people on 19 items including rice, flour, pulses, sugar, edible oil, dates, tea and milk at Utility Stores Corporation (USC) outlets.

The decision on edible oil came in response to the ministry of Industries’ memorandum to the finance minister on March 20, which said that hardly two-week edible oil/ghee was left in the country, as the Russia-Ukraine issue was limiting the supplies. It blamed the FBR for not implementing the finance minister’s decision last month.

After which it warned that the country might face a severe shortage of the commodity in Ramazan. Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar also attended the meeting.