Govt Lifts Import Ban on Luxury Items

The coalition government on Thursday the import ban on most of the luxury and non-essential items that was imposed in May in order to recover the trade deficit and save precious foreign exchange. However, the ban on import of mobile phones, automobiles, and home appliances will remain in place as these are considered to have a bigger impact on the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the decision was taken during the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), held under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, after a substantial reduction was witnessed in the country’s imports.

In light of this fact, the ECC decided to lift the import ban on most of the luxury goods and non-essential items, except for automobiles, mobile phones, and home appliances. Furthermore, all held-up consignments except the items that still remain banned, which arrived at the ports after July 1, 2022 will be cleared subject to payment of 25% surcharge.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan had put a ban on imported items, including luxury and non-essential goods in order to control the import bill and recover the trade deficit. The decision helped to shrink imports of the banned items by 69% – from $400 million to $124 million.

The ECC decided to remove the import ban after consideration of the fact that the ban impacted the supply chain and domestic retail industry. However, the import ban on mobile phones, automobiles, and home appliances remain in place due to their huge foreign exchange impact.

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