Pakistan lifts import ban to meet IMF demands

ISLAMABAD: The Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Thursdayannounced lifting ban on imports which the government had imposed twomonths ago to control trade deficit.
He said the government policies for the revival of economy have provedto be effective and that the funding requirement has also been met.
The finance minister stated that the government has also fulfilled allthe prerequisites of IMF, with the financial support from somecountries.
Five to six billion dollars were required by International MonetaryFunds(IMF) to increase Pakistan’s reserves, out of which, $2.5 billionwas coming in while 4 billion had already been arranged.
According to his statement, a board meeting from IMF on 29 August isscheduled and the funding requirement has also been met.
The finance minister added that the Prime Minister was not at all infavor of allowing the import of luxury items. However, the demands arebeing made to lift the ban at the global level due to IMF conditions.Commenting on the duty being levied on unnecessary items, Miftah saidthat Rs42 billion were estimated from retail tax.
However, it has beenreduced to Rs27 billion.In comparison to last year’s data, exports are 7.8% higher while theimports have fallen by 18.19%.According to Miftah, the companies that do not pay sales tax will havetheir stay orders removed.
The government had planned to collect Rs42billion through retail taxes but it would not be able to meet thattarget, Ismail added.
“Our revised target is Rs27bn and we will be ableto achieve this.”
He also said that more tax will be levied on cigarettes through anordinance. NNI