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 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 Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and commerce minister for taking cognisance 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 Pakistani products in the global market.
The FPCCI SVP elaborated that although exports saw some degree of revival in 2017-18 after announcement of the Prime Minister’s Export Package, however, it experienced a negative growth of 19pc 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, hoped that the proposed recommendations of the National Tariff Policy would go a long way in boosting exports and bridging yawing trade deficit.
