Textile and leather sectors: ministry, FBR asked to address reservations over RD

Ministry of Commerce and Federal Board Revenue (FBR) have been asked to address the reservations of textile and leather sectors over regulatory duty (RD) imposed recently to discourage imports of non-essential items and finance the export promotion package. The directives were made by the Senate Standing Committee on Finance chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla after representatives of some industries protested imposition of RD on raw materials and stated that it would increase cost and make the exports expensive.
The committee directed the FBR and Ministry of Commerce, after listening to their stance in details, to remove concerns of textile and leather sectors and report to the committee within two weeks. Earlier, Ministry of Commerce officials said that RD was not imposed as per their summary and FBR prepared its own list and imposed regulatory duty. However, the FBR said the list was changed and implemented with the approval of the secretary commerce.
Member Customs FBR, Zahid Khokhar said that RD has not been imposed to mobilize revenue for the treasury but the decision was taken on the request of the Commerce Ministry to discourage imports.
The chairman of the committee asked about the reason to impose the RD on raw materials. The additional secretary commerce said Commerce Ministry''s stance was to discourage imports as trade deficit was unusually high. She also disassociated Commerce Ministry from any decision to impose RD on raw materials and stated that Commerce Ministry during meeting with the FBR took the stance that RD on raw materials will increase cost of production. She said that Commence Ministry has also given a list of non-essential items to the FBR for imposing RD. However, the FBR prepared its own list and even that was not shared with the Commerce Ministry, another official of the ministry maintained.
After listening to the FBR and Ministry of Commerce, the chairman of the committee directed both the departments to resolve the issue within two weeks and report to the committee because RD issue is very critical and, therefore, all stakeholders must be taken into confidence.
He said that post-RD situation also requires immediate attention as different stakeholders have been expressing their reservations time to time.
Absence of secretary commerce also annoyed the committee chairman and members and before the committer could have made some observations, the official stated that secretary was attending Public Account Committee meeting going on in another committee room.
The committee also considered Auditor General of Pakistan Amendment Bill and was told that after the approval of the new law, the domain of AGP will be widened and the AGP will also be able to conduct the audit of local governments. In the Bill, the AGP''s tenure is proposed to be reduced from five years to four years.
The chairman of the committee after the meeting repeated his demand that the government must replace Finance Minister Ishaq Dar because he is available on WhatsApp and every attached department of Finance Ministry is taking decision on its own.