Govt to Restrict Luxury Items’ Import to save $ 600 mln

The federal government has decided to ban the import of luxury items including cars, and mobile phones to control the mounting trade deficit. The Finance Ministry is tasked to restrict imports of items to at least save external payments of  $ 500-600 million. Sources said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) under the direction of the Prime Minister started working on banning more than 2 dozen luxury items and there is a chance that FBR will issue an SRO on Thursday in this regard. The proposed items included frozen fish, egg powder, almond in shell cover, dry coconut, gum arabic, gum copal, broomstick keels, inedible tallow, olive oil, soap and gum stock, and cocoa powder, toys, dolls, festive snow spray and zippers. Similarly, it may be include diapers, sanitary towels,  disposable plastic boxes, non-cellular rubber sheets, textile and textile articles, Bopp film, high impact polystyrene sheets, bathroom accessories made of plastic, hand tools , mobile accessories as well as glass protector (tempered), tableware, potato chips, olives sweet corn, first jam, instant dry yeast, soya sauce, pet food, energy drinks, chemicals, sodium, auto parts, diesel engine, motorcycle parts, air compressors, air handling units, air conditioners, cool refrigerator, other furniture included chests, cabinets, display, ring travellers, tractor parts, pistols, whalers cargo loaders, LED TVs, bicycle non geared, branded heavy motorcycle, toys, light fixture, cigars, expensive cigarettes, TFT screen, android tv box, car stereo player, mobile accessories, electric oven and laptop batteries. Sources said that government will be able to save $500 to $600 million per month by these banning items. In rupee terms it would be around Rs 120 billion savings. It is pertinent to mention here that the import bill has surged to 65.5 billion dollars in the first ten months of the current fiscal year which was 44.73 billion dollars in the corresponding period of the previous year.