Karachi: Syed Mazhar Ali Nasir, Senior Vice President and Chairman, Budget Advisory Council of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) has hailed Pervaiz Malik, Commerce Minister and the Secretary Commerce, Mohammad Younus Dagha for incorporating the long outstanding demand of the business community in the (draft) National Tariff Policy to do away with the discrimination between the industrial importers and commercial importers of raw materials, intermediate goods and machinery as these are ultimately used in manufacturing activities and would reduce the cost of production of SMEs and production of export surplus at competitive cost.
The FPCCI Senior Vice President appreciated the Prime Minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Pervaiz Malik, Commerce Minister for taking cognizance of falling export competitiveness and preparing (draft) National Tariff Policy (NTP) for incorporation in Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2018-23 with the objective to protect and enhance competitive edge of our products in the global market.
The FPCCI SVP elaborated that although export saw some degree of revival in 2017-18 after announcement of the Prime Minister’s Export Package, however, it experienced a negative growth of 19% from 2014 to 2017 due to a variety of factors such as increase of multiple layers of tariffs and taxes, which have been rightly identified and addressed in (draft) NTP prepared by the Commerce Division.
Syed Mazhar Ali Nasir appreciating some of the positive proposals of the NTP said that duty on raw material and machinery for export oriented industries would be reduced; indigenous manufacturers including Small and Medium Enterprises would be facilitated; existing tariff slabs would be slashed to four at 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%; efficiency of the existing indigenous industry’s activities would be enhanced and their predictability and transparency through simplification of tariff rationalization would be ensured; time-bond protection would be provided to newly established industries in their initial period of inception etc. He hoped that the proposed recommendations of the National Tariff Policy would go a long way in boosting exports and bridging yawing trade deficit.