Lahore: A recent study from international accounting and consultancy network, UHY has revealed that Pakistani consumers are charged four times more custom duty in comparison to the average globally. Whereas consumers globally pay 1.8pc on the total value of imported goods, in Pakistan that stands at 7pc of the total value.
This indicates that Pakistan is paying much higher prices in comparison to other countries globally which includes several developed economies. Custom duties charged by 22 countries around the world formed part of this study by UHY, which was a percentage of the total value of their imports.
Ex president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan, Naeem Akhtar Sheikh said “We have seen many industrial sectors losing global competitiveness when governments gave heavy protection to domestic industries producing basic raw material for the main industries. This effectively increased the price of basic raw material much above the global rate.”
A member of UHY in Pakistan, Ibn-e-Hassan mentioned that as a result of exorbitant custom duties items become more expensive and customers have to bear the impact of it. He added that due to price increases, a cost has to be paid which particularly impacts and constrains the budgets of low-income bracketed consumers. Governmental policies in terms of custom duties can influence the industries it is vying to protect, which impacts the efforts to innovate and improve competitiveness.
