ISLAMABAD: The Finance Ministry is set to explain the updated status of the issue of concession in customs duties and taxes for importers of the Balochistan in the Senate today (Tuesday).
The Baloch lawmakers have been demanding of the government to announce special concessionary package of customs duties and federal excise duties (FED) for the traders from the Balochistan province on numerous grounds.
The exporters and importers from Balochistan have been demanding special concessionary tax regime on the basis of backwardness of the province as well as to meet the zero tax rated exports of both the Afghanistan and Iran. Furthermore, they have also been of the viewpoint that customs duties and federal excise duties have made their doing of business costlier as well as uncompetitive with neighboring countries products in the international markets.
A well placed source at Finance Ministry told Customs Today that Finance Ministry had received a letter from the Senate Secretariat that PML-N Senator Kalsoom Parveen had moved a resolution in the House in which such concessions had been demanded. The House had also passed the said resolution.
The draft of the letter stated as Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization was required to report to the House under rule 265- A of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012, on the resolution passed by the House.
“The House calls upon the government to announce concession in Customs duties and taxes for the importers of the province of Balochistan moved by Senator Kalsoom Parveen in November, 2015″ the draft stated.
When asked who would explain the latest state of affairs in the House, the source said that Finance Minister was in Karachi and if he would be back in the capital by the session of the House, then he would respond to the queries of the lawmakers in this regard.
However, in his absence, the source said that Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan could explain the official view point before the Upper House of the Parliament.
