LAHORE: The commerce ministry proposed to cut customs duty rates by up to 72% on hundreds of items in addition to completely abolishing duties on another 151 items.
The ministry has forwarded a list of 515 items to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), requesting reduced duty rates on them in the fiscal year 2018-19 budget, which the government will present in the National Assembly on April 27.
For quite some time, Pakistan has been struggling to improve exports, which are equal to only 6.9% of the country’s total national output. This ratio was double a few years ago. Due to constant decline in exports during the last three years, Pakistan’s external debt-bearing capacity has significantly weakened. The external debt to exports ratio was 193.2% when the PML-N came into power, which has deteriorated to 302.5% in 2017.
The proposed tariff lines are roughly 7.2% of the total tariff lines that are subject to various duties. The proposed tariff rationalization will improve the competitiveness of leading export sectors including textiles, apparel, leather, spices, chemical products, plastics and articles thereof and iron and steel, according to the commerce ministry.
