ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will cut taxes on imports of raw materials to spur manufacturing and overall economic growth, Bloomberg quoted Prime Minister Imran Khan’s trade adviser as saying on Monday.
Customs duties on input items needed by pharmaceutical, chemical, engineering and food processing industries will be reduced by 3 percent to 10 percent, Abdul Razzak Dawood, Khan’s adviser on commerce, said in an interview to Bloomberg.
“That will help lower the import of finished goods, encourage local production and put the nation in a position to boost exports,” he said. “Pakistan had ridiculously high duties. The objective is to put Pakistan on par with other countries on trade taxes.”
Bloomberg said the proposal would be part of the federal government’s annual budget for the year starting July 1, by when it targets to achieve a growth rate of 4.8 percent. The nation forecast growth to be 3.9 percent this year after a rare contraction last year. The new budget is scheduled to be presented in the lower house of the parliament on June 11.
“Paring import taxes will be a huge policy shift for Pakistan, given more than 40 percent of its total tax revenue is generated from levies on inbound shipments,” Bloomberg said. “Khan’s government is seeking to end the nation’s reliance in recent years on foreign loans and bailouts, and instead boost industrial productivity and the share of exports in the economy.”
To that end, the administration will extend concessional long-term financing for exports and working capital financing to businesses in the next fiscal year, Dawood told the American publication.
The nation’s exports haven’t grown significantly in the past decade, averaging $23 billion annually. For the next financial year, the government hopes it will be higher than $25 billion.
Pakistan to cut taxes on imports of raw materials to boost growth
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Pakistan to cut taxes on imports of raw materials to boost growth
- Customs duties on input items needed by pharmaceutical, chemical, engineering, food processing industries to be reduced by 3 percent to 10 percent
- Proposal to be part of federal government’s annual budget for year starting July 1 by when it targets to achieve growth rate of 4.8 percent
Police rescue 11 abducted bus passengers after gunbattle in Pakistan’s katcha region
- The passengers were seized when gunmen intercepted a bus traveling on a key highway linking Punjab to Balochistan
- Authorities deployed armored vehicles, surveillance drones as dense fog complicated the rescue operation in the area
KARACHI: Pakistani police on Tuesday rescued 11 bus passengers who were abducted by an organized criminal gang, known locally as katcha dacoits, from near the border separating the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, officials said.
The passengers were seized on Monday night when gunmen intercepted the bus traveling on the Ghotki–Guddu–Kashmore Link Road, a strategic highway in the country’s south. The bus was en route from Sadiqabad in Punjab province to the Balochistan capital, Quetta.
The abduction occurred in the marshy area of Ghotki, a riverine territory known as the katcha region along the Indus River, long regarded as a sanctuary for heavily armed criminal gangs.
“After a police encounter with the bandits, 11 abducted passengers have been recovered,” Ghotki district police chief Anwar Khetran told media.
He added an exchange of fire erupted near Sonmiani village during the large-scale police operation. Two of the rescued passengers sustained injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
It was not known how many passengers were aboard the bus when dacoits abducted it.
Authorities said a heavy police contingent using armored vehicles and surveillance drones was deployed and that the operation would continue until all perpetrators were captured or killed. However, Khetran noted that dense fog was hampering visibility.
The incident is the latest in a string of high-profile abductions targeting travelers in the difficult-to-govern katcha areas of Upper Sindh, particularly in the Ghotki, Kashmore and Shikarpur districts.
Despite periodic crackdowns involving police and paramilitary forces, criminal gangs operating in the rugged terrain have persisted, posing a continuing challenge to law and order.
