December 25, 2021
Pakistan has been one of the only countries of the world that kept supporting Afghanistan in the post August 15 environment by ensuring a constant provision of different Confidence Building Measures (CBMs). Most of the CBMs provided by Pakistan were in the trade, health, food, and education sector. In continuation of its efforts to support Afghanistan in these testing times, Pakistan exempted customs duty on the import of nine items.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) exempted customs duty on the import of nine different types of items including coal, marble, Sulphur and containers from Afghanistan along with exempting regulatory duty on the import of marble and reducing regulatory duty on import of ground nuts from 20 percent to 10 percent, if imported from Afghanistan.
According to the notification issued by FBR on Thursday, nine items including coal, bituminous coal, talc, marble (crude or roughly trimmed), plants and parts of plants (including seed and fruit), seeds of cumin neither crushed nor grounded; Sulphur of all kinds, other than sublimed Sulphur; Yams (Dioscoreaspp) and containers (including containers for the transport of fluids), and will be valid till June 30, 2022. Below are the details of the reductions and exemptions made under the notification issued by FBR:
- Regulatory duty on the import of raw marble to be exempted completely if imported from Afghanistan.
- Regulatory duty on the import of peanuts to be reduced to 10 percent from the previous 20 percent, if imported from Afghanistan.
- Complete exemption of additional customs duty on the import of 24 items, which previously had the value of 3-7.5 percent.
- 3 percent reduction in regulatory duty on the import of sweet potato, almonds, plants and their roots, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and cumin seeds from Afghanistan.
- 5 percent reduction in regulatory duty on the import of all forms of Sulphur from Afghanistan.
- 11 percent reduction in regulatory duty on the import of Talcum powder from Afghanistan.
- 11 percent reduction in regulatory duty on the import of containers from Afghanistan.
- 16 percent reduction in regulatory duty on the import of marble, construction material, coal tar, and coal from Afghanistan.
- Moreover, in order to improve the quality of drinking water in Afghanistan, FBR has provided the facility to Afghan traders avail around 3.43 percent duty drawback on the import of water purification sachets and powder from Pakistan.
The exemption of customs duties on the above-mentioned nine items will not only enhance the volume of trade between the two countries but will also help in strengthening the doomed economy of Afghanistan along with improving the health and food sector in this time of crisis.
