LAHORE: After a gap of almost one month, the government again decided to cut general sales tax and customs duty by half and abolish two per cent additional customs duty on edible oil to reduce its price by Rs45-50 per kg and introduce a major targeted subsidy programme in a couple of days.
“We have decided to reduce its [edible oil] price by Rs45-50 per kg by reducing GST from 17 to 8.5pc, customs duty from Rs10,000 per tonne to Rs5,000 and abolish 2pc additional customs duty to provide relief [to the people],” Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said at a hurriedly called news conference.
He said the relief in overall inflationary trend was not imminent over the next three to four months, adding that there were different forecasts about a decline in prices, but “this may not be visible in one-two months”.
Minister sees no relief in overall inflationary trend over next three-four months; PM to announce major targeted subsidy programme in a couple of days.
