The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has stated that import containers are cleared in 20 minutes through the WEBOC-GLOBAL customs clearance system.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, presided over by Faiz Ullah, was given a briefing on Tuesday by the member customs operation and highs-ups of Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL). The committee expressed displeasure over the absence of governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and president National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) from the meeting and decided that the matter would be taken up with the Prime Minister and the Speaker National Assembly by writing letters to them.

The members of the committee stated that the committee is an extension of the Parliament, which is the highest forum, but its meetings are not taken seriously by the senior government officials. The committee was informed that president NBP was unable to reach because of delay in flights from Karachi to Islamabad.

Member Customs Operation Jawad Agha while briefing to the committee stated that 600 import containers are being cleared daily through green channel system and the customs department is trying to prevent misdeclaration of customs duty.

He said, "We are also putting in place a mechanism to address theft issue at the post-clearance." The meeting was informed that during the current fiscal year, illegal material worth Rs 14.5 billion was seized against Rs 9.5 billion in last fiscal year.

He added that customs mechanism is being made autonomous. Around 39 percent material is being cleared through green channel and after the new system 50 percent material would be cleared through green channel, added the member customs operation.

The official of the FBR informed the meeting that as per new agreement with traders, it has been agreed that any decision about different aspects of the agreement would be taken after consultation with traders. The meeting was informed that a campaign would be launched in the markets of the country to register the new tax payers and they would be provided a simple registration form.

President Zarai Taraqiati Bank informed the committee that he assumed the charge of the bank a month ago and ZTBL board of governor meeting has not taken place for over two years. Some committee members stated that bank disburses more loans in Punjab but even in South Punjab very little loans are disbursed.

The committee members also complained of high interest rate of 18 percent charged by the ZTBL while chairman of the committee remarked that despite giving expensive loans, the bank is facing Rs 8 billion losses.

The committee was informed that there are 502 branches of the bank and by reducing the number of branches, losses faced by it can be reduced, adding reduction of branches is priority of the ZTBL.

The president ZTBL further informed that the bank has planned to launch full-fledged Islamic banking, which will make ZTBL the first agriculture financial institution of the country offering Shariah compliant banking and financing services. He also informed that Bank is implementing crop loan insurance scheme for five major crops (wheat, cotton, sugarcane, rice and maize) to mitigate the risk of losses occurring to agricultural borrowers due to natural climates and risks of defaults to bank. He briefed about the way forward plan of the ZTBL.

The committee expressed its apprehensions about the delay in appointing ZTBL Board by the Ministry of Finance and directed that the summary in this regard must be sent to the Cabinet for final approval.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019