LAHORE: Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (PIAF) has asked the government to save the tractor industry from complete shut down by reducing the rate of GST. Because of the increase in rate of general sales tax on tractors from 10 per cent to 17 per cent not only the sale of tractors has dropped but also large tractor manufacturing units have shut down.
PIAF Chairman Malik Tahir Javaid has said that it was very unfortunate that the tractor industry was running at 30 percent of its installed capacity due to sharp drop in sales and shut down of two tractor manufacturing giants Millat Tractors and al-Ghazi Tractors.
Pakistan was the only country that was the producer of the cheapest tractors before raise in GST. The tractor assemblers and their 300 plus vendors fear a severe drop in sales as a result of massive hike in GST. He said that 17 per cent GST to be paid by the country’s farmers will further curtail their ability to purchase tractors. Despite producing the cheapest tractor in the world, the Pakistani farmer is still not able to afford a tractor. GST set to go to 17 per cent under IMF pressure, is adding up to massive drop in tractor sales.
The PIAF Chairman said the drop in tractor sales means unemployment for thousands of skilled workers who work in hundreds of factories producing tractor parts for the tractor assembly plants. Employment in rural Pakistan will also be curtailed, as tractor is a major source of employment generation in the form of drivers, mechanics, and spare parts/lubricant suppliers, he added.
