ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance has directed the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to streamline the process of disclosure of foreign currency in order to facilitate international passengers and sought details in this regard in two weeks.
The meeting of the committee was held under the chair of Senator Saleem Mandviwala here on Wednesday.
During the meeting, Deputy Governor SBP Dr Inayat Hussain informed that the CAA had made it mandatory for incoming passengers to declare their foreign currencies. “As per our understanding, the circular was issued in consultation with Customs authorities,” he added.
Senator Kamil Ali Agha asked the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to explain under whose authority the CAA had issued a circular. “Why is CAA monitoring and controlling dollars?” he asked.
Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Asim Ahmed informed the committee that FBR has not given any directions to Customs for collecting any new information from passengers entering the country.
State Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail informed the meeting that a number of changes in the movement of foreign currency rules have been made in line with the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) standards. He said the rules were already in place whereas the director general Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) had simply implemented measures in the presence of the FATF team during their visit to Pakistan.
Deliberating over details regarding the export of excess foreign currency cash as permitted by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the committee was informed by the deputy governor SBP that the central bank issues special permissions to export defaced/small denomination USD cash notes. “Exchange companies have to comply with all relevant regulations in order to carry out exports,” he added.
He said that exchange companies exported more than $3.10 billion currency in the last fiscal year (FY22) whereas they have exported $7 million dollars in the current fiscal so far.
“SBP has imposed a ban on exporting dollars and has made its permission mandatory for export,” he informed the committee.
Senator Saleem Mandviwala opined that SBP should not allow the export of dollars even if the country has a surplus of forex reserves.
Discussing difficulties faced by importers due to high dollar rates charged by commercial banks for opening LCs, the committee took strong notice of the matter and stressed the need for measures to address the issue.
Senator Mohsin said that numerous businesses are on the verge of shutting down due to this and market sentiment has experienced an all-time low.
The committee recommended that a meeting with a single point agenda regarding opening LCs must be conducted soon.
Meanwhile, chairman SECP informed that the stolen data of companies maintained by the SECP has not been sold on the dark web. Members of the committee were of the view that the matter had been blown out of proportion but directed SECP to revamp online security nonetheless.
Chairman SECP informed that the matter is being investigated and a report will be submitted to the committee soon.
Moreover, chairman FRR informed the committee that a temporary ban was imposed on the import of mobile phones due to the current account situation in the country; however, no new taxes have been imposed. He said the reason for increase in prices is due to regulatory duties on the recommendation of the National Tariff Commission.
“The imposed regulatory duties are independent of the money bill and can be changed any time,” he concluded.
