ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet decided withdrawal of SRO 15(I)/2010 to restore 5 percent customs duty on the import of cotton yarn and lifted the ban on the import of gold.
The ECC meeting held here with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the chair decided to withdraw customs duty exemption from the cotton yarn import to protect the local cotton yarn industry which has started suffering from a liberal tariff regime.
The ECC also decided to lift a ban on the import of gold and gold jewellery subject to the following; (a) imports under savings in any one-month period are restricted to a maximum of 10 kg per exporter;(b) the penalty of default in export commitment is 5 percent of leviable duty under SRO 266, which is practically “nil,” as customs duty and sales tax on import of gold is 0 percent. Therefore, import authorisation under the aforementioned savings clause is cancelled, if an exporter fails to honour the export commitment, within the stipulated timeframe; (c) all import authorisations issued previously under SRO 266 are cancelled for those exporters who do not opt for a fresh registration or fail to apply for new jewellery passbook with effect from May 15, 2014;(d) the maximum amount of gold imported under any single transaction should not exceed 10 kg;(e) the ban imposed under SRO 760 on the import of gold, vide SRO 53(I)/2014 is lifted;(f) the ban on commercial import of gold imposed vide SRO 52(I)/2014, dated January 24, 2014 is lifted.
The ECC also approved an Rs2 billion Relief Package for Ramazan 2014 and decided that details of the relief on essentials would be submitted by the USC to the next ECC meeting for consideration.
The meeting was also attended by Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Pervaiz Rashid, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif, Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal Ghulam, Minister for Industries and Production Murtaza Khan Jatoi, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid, Minister Information and Technology Anusha Rehman Khan, Federal secretaries and senior officials.
