August 18, 2022 (MLN): The government is planning to remove restrictions on the import of luxury items imposed on May 19, said Finance Minister Miftah Ismail while addressing a press conference today.
However, govt will impose a regulatory duty on imports in the range of 400- 600%, which will surely discourage imports, he added.
To note, the govt decided to ban the import of luxury items as part of an emergency economic plan to stabilize the depleting foreign exchange reserves and alarmingly high trade deficit.
In the month of July 2022, the imports stood at $4,993 million (provisional) as compared to $7,880 million in June 2022, showing a decrease of 36.63% due to prudent and timely measures taken by the government.
While responding to the issues faced by exporters, Miftah Ismail said “We are holding meetings with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR).”
“We will resolve the issues by tomorrow and all obstacles will be removed for exporters especially to import machinery and other spare parts for export purposes.”
