KARACHI: Pakistan Customs collected Rs677 billion during the first eight months of ongoing financial year of 2015-16 with a growth of 12.5 per cent over the last year’s Rs602 billion it generated during the same period.
The official sources said that the duty collection increased 16.5 percent to Rs189.896 billion in corresponding period. Duty collection by south region surged 21.6 percent to Rs163.01 billion in July-February 2016. Overall sales tax collection at import stage amounted to Rs369.78 billion in the eight months period, up 11.7 percent over the corresponding period. Customs Appraisement south’s sales tax collection at import stage stood at Rs308.5 billion, up 10.5 percent.
The sources said that as per Customs Member Nasir Masroor’s directions, special measures being taken to curb the smuggling. He said that despite having no actual figures, it can be said that smuggling has been inflicting a loss of hundreds of billions on to the economy every year.
According to the official source, the quantum of legitimate imports increased owing to the rigorous anti-smuggling campaign by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). There was more than 22 percent surge in the value of dutiable imports during the period, the official added.
