ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has removed a customs anomaly on the import of Motor Spirit (MS) by imposing 10 percent regulatory duty (RD) on its import in cases where 10 percent customs duty is not paid on its import.
A meeting of the ECC presided over by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail was submitted a proposal by the Ministry of Commerce on Friday for imposing RD levy on import of Motor Spirit contending that the import of MS is subject to 10 per cent custom duty under the 5th Schedule of the Customs Act, 1969, but it is subject to 0 per cent under China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA).
Those availing the FTA exemption pay zero customs duty, whereas, others are paying customs duty @ 10 per cent. The ECC after discussion, in order to address this anomaly, allowed levy of 10 per cent RD on import of MS but where customs duty @10 per cent is paid on import of MS, it will be exempted from levy of RD.
On a summary moved by the Ministry of Communication regarding funds needed for clearing liabilities of the Utility Companies/Agency partners of the Pakistan Post Office Department (PPOD), the ECC allowed release Rs37.33 billion for clearing outstanding liabilities of the utility companies/agency partners by the PPOD after verification of claimed amount by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The meeting was informed that the collection of utility bills is one of the functions being performed by the PPOD and amount thus, collected was deposited in SBP’s Central Account-1. The meeting was further informed that the liabilities of Rs62.33 billion have been accumulated till 31st March 2022 and Rs25 billion had already been approved on 15-04-2022 for payment to utilities companies.
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The ECC also deliberated and approved a summary submitted by the Finance Division on policy for grant of honorarium with direction that the proposal-v of policy may be redefined as the chairman ECC in his discretion can award additional honorarium to the employees of federal government.
Ministry of Industries and Production submitted a summary for release of funds for the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) on account of gas supply to Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and stated that due to closure of the production activity in the PSM, low flame gas of 2 MMCFD is being supplied to the Mills primarily to preserve the Coke Oven batteries and re-fractories kilns with an average monthly bill of approximately Rs80 million. The ECC after discussion allowed release of Rs620.85 million for making payment of eight months outstanding gas bills for July 2021 to February 2022.
On a summary moved by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research for revision of cess rates on tobacco for the year 2022-23, the ECC approved new cess rates for Flue Cured Virginia (FCV) Plain Area and sub-mountainous area is Rs6 per kg, Dark Air-Cured Tobacco (DAC) Rs3.60 kg, White Patta (WP) Rs3 kg, Burley Rs5 kg and Naswar/snuff/Hookah and other Rustica Tobacco and its products Rs3 kg. The meeting was informed that the current cess rates on all types and varieties of tobacco notified by the federal government on 14th July, 2021, need to be enhanced in line with the increase in Minimum Indicative Price (MIP) of all types of tobacco notified on 10th February 2022.
The ECC also approved supplementary/ Technical Supplementary Grants; (i) Rs40.5 billion for the Ministry of Commerce for payment claims cleared by the SBP, under previous government’s duty drawbacks schemes (DLTL/LTLD) of textiles and non-textiles sectors; (ii) Rs2.214 billion in favour of Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) and Rs300 million to National Commission for Human Development (NCHD); (iii) Rs3.960 billion to HEC under World Bank project – Higher Education Development in Pakistan; (iv) Rs70 million to Higher Education Commission for the project titled award of 3000 scholarships to students from Afghanistan; (v) Rs227.924 million in respect of Gilgit–Baltistan Council and its departments;(vi) Rs201.091 million in favour of Ministry of Housing and Works;(vii) Rs1812.437 million and Rs13,785 million in favour of Ministry of Interior; (viii) Rs81.791 million in favour of Geological Survey of Pakistan; (ix) Rs123.411 million in favour of National School of Public Policy, Lahore; (x) Rs578.11 million in favour of Ministry of Climate Change; and (xi) Rs242.377 million for Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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