ISLAMABAD: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has suggested increasing import duties on unnecessary imports and impose the 100 per cent “Letter of Credit” (LC) margin on preventable imports to improve the balance of payments situation.
The Government has already taken some laudable steps to restrict unnecessary imports to rescue the depleting foreign exchange reserves and curtail the widening deficits but more measures to cut imports have become imperative, it said.
Imports must be reduced which jumped to $ 52 billion during the last fiscal while exports dropped to $ 21 billion which is a huge gap that calls for more measures, said FPCCI President Zubair Tufail.
He suggested to expand the list of items importable attracting impose 100 per cent LC margin saying that the list of such items may be finalised with the consultation of FPCCI, he said, adding this step would compel importers to reduce their imports due to liquidity constraints.
Tufail said that additional duties may be slapped to discourage imports to narrow the trade gap otherwise country will face serious challenges within few months.
He said that it is better to take strict measures ourselves instead of waiting for the situation to deteriorate which will leave us with the only option of international lending.
He further said that local industries should be encouraged instead of making Pakistan a dumping ground for other countries, as the FTAs and PTAs signed with other countries are heavily in favour of our partners and need to be reviewed. At present, under one FTA, 85 per cent goods are imported into Pakistan worth $ 15 billion while our exports to that country are less than 15 per cent or $ 2 billion.
It is high time to make serious efforts to increase the exports from the current $ 21 billion to at least $ 25 billion in the current FY.
FPCCI supports the demand of the exporters for a reduction in electricity and gas prices as per the level prevailing in the regional countries as well as prompt payment of remaining refunds of sales tax and income tax, he said.
