ISLAMABAD: The federal government is considering increasing Customs duty, additional customs duty (ARD) and regulatory duty (RD) on scores of imported items to curtail the mounting current account deficit (CAD).
Sources said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Ministry of Industries and Production and Commerce Division have been working on various proposals with regard to curtailing the CAD.
“The government may increase these three types of taxes on non-stamped as well as partially or wholly stamped tobacco, non-alcoholic beer, betel leaves, areca nuts, pine nuts, LCD, LED, OLED televisions, vegetable fats and oil, spin finish oil, polymers of ethylene, rice, wire condensers and others luxury items.
In addition, the FBR and the Ministry of Industries and Production are also mulling imposing federal excise duty (FED) on vehicles above 1800cc, besides banning the import of Completely Built Unit (CBU) vehicles till June 30, 2022.
The concerned ministries and departments would hold a meeting for the finalisation of these proposals during this week, sources said.
They said that an increase of 8.7 per cent was witnessed in the import of food group items including pulses and palm oil, 8.2pc in textile machinery, 7.6pc in consumer goods, 6.8pc in textiles, 19.4pc in raw materials and 30.2pc in petroleum products during the first quarter of the current fiscal year (Q1FY22).
The CAD has been recorded at $5.1 billion from July to October of the current fiscal year (4MFY22) against the whole year’s target of $2.3 billion approved by the parliament and the National Economic Council (NEC) for the current fiscal.
