ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Wednesday decided to impose a complete ban on the import of unnecessary and luxury items amid the continuous depreciation of the rupee and an unsettling economic crisis in order to deal with the country’s unsettling economic woes.
The decision was taken during a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in which the economic situation of the country was reviewed.
The prime minister said that precious foreign exchange would not be spent on import of unnecessary and luxury items. He said a ban must be imposed on the import of non-essential items that are not used by the common man.
The sources said that the prime minister has banned the import of luxury vehicles and other non-essential items, including cosmetics, for which instructions have also been issued. They added that the decision was taken by the premier due to the widening trade deficit and, after holding a consultative meeting with his coalition partners, it was decided that the government will take tough decisions to stabilise the economy. The decision is said to be important to control the dollar flight.
According to sources in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), a proposal to increase duty on the following items has been submitted: regulatory duty on machinery will be up by 10 percent and home appliances by 50 percent; power generation machinery regulations to go up by 30 percent; steel products regulatory duty to go up by 10 percent; duty on cars above 1,000cc to be up by 100 percent and 30 percent ACD; regulatory duty on ceramics to be up by 40 percent
The government is considering doubling the regulatory duty on the import of mobile phones. The new duties will vary between Rs6,000 to Rs44,000 on the import of a single device, according to sources.
Five slabs of tax are outlined for the duty structure. The mobile set of Rs3,000 on valuation of $30-100 the duty is proposed at Rs6,ooo, the mobile set of Rs7,500 on valuation of $ 101-200 the duty is proposed at Rs15,ooo, on the mobile set of Rs11,000 on valuation of $201-350, the duty is proposed at Rs22ooo; on the mobile set of Rs15,000 on valuation of $351-500, the duty is proposed at Rs30,ooo; and on the mobile set of Rs22,000 on valuation of above $500, the duty is proposed at Rs44,ooo.
The business community had also urged the government to immediately put curbs on the import of luxury goods as the country is heading towards economic chaos.
