Government lifts ban on import of luxury items, imposes heavy tax
The announcement was made by the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue at a press conference held recently.
The federal government has decided to lift the ban on the import of luxury items. The announcement was made by the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, at a press conference held recently. This decision was taken in accordance with the condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The ban was imposed three months ago in May. The minister, in the conference, stated that the ban on the import of luxury items was essential to utilize the country’s scarce forex to import essential items like edible oil.
He also revealed that IMF wanted the country to lift the ban after two months. However, despite the ban being lifted, the federal government will levy high taxes on the items in an attempt to discourage the import of luxury items. This step should also encourage people to shift to local alternatives.
Moreover, he also said that the customs duty on luxury items will be increased three times. Heavy regulatory duties (RDs) of about 400-600% will also be imposed on the items. This will help meet the conditions set by IMF and WTO.
In the conference, Miftah said that there are a number of inputs that are utilized in the export products, which would be now allowed to import. ‘So to ensure that the industry should run and no such completely built unit is imported, a bigger amount of duty is replacing the ban,’ he added.
Other than this, he talked about holding meetings with SBP and FBR to resolve the duty issues. ‘All obstacles will be removed for exporters, especially for importing machinery and other spare parts for export purposes,’ he said further.
Miftah Ismail also mentioned that all the pre-requisites of the fund have been fulfilled by the country. The condition of increasing Pakistan’s foreign reserves by $4 billion was met with help of countries like Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
What are your views on this? Share in the comments bar below.
Government should keep strict ban of luxury and non-essential items. Promote indigenous products and allow incentives for production and export. More spendings required for improving quality of life of people in Pakistan. Government is not doing enough for the people and poverty is rampant.
There is an abundance of third grade Chinese products in the market that have a very low life cycle. More educated youth is jobless due to decline in production and high cost of doing business.
Taxes need to be rationalized. Incentives given on savings.