Islamabad: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry )FPCCI) has urged the government to redesign the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) policy with a view to promote the domestic industry.
In a press statement issued here FPCCI said Pakistan suffered revenue loss of over Rs 45 billion during 2019-20 due to the agreements in question signed with different countries. The FPCCI said general exemption on imports from China under FTA caused revenue loss of Rs 26.86 billion during the same period.
FPCCI President Mian Anjum Nisar demanded Pakistan should have entered into FTAs and PTAs with only those countries, which gave it a mutual competitive advantage. He demanded inclusion of maximum finished goods to export to China on tariff line offered by Beijing to ASEAN countries. He demanded the government should take all stakeholders on board while framing the recommendations on FTAs/ PTAs policy.
He referred the official figures which indicate that exemption on import from SAARC countries caused revenue loss of Rs 231 million and general exemptions on imports from SAARC countries under SAFTA impact Rs1.602 billion on Pakistan revenue. Similarly, the general exemptions on imports from SAARC countries under SAFTA caused revenue loss of Rs 15 million during the last fiscal year. Similarly exemptions on import from China under FTA caused loss of Rs6.911 billion during 2019-20, the exemptions on imports from Malaysia and Indonesia under PTA caused loss of Rs 2.517 billion and 3.65 billion respectively
Mian Anjum Nisar suggested the government to devise a strategy in the light of impact on domestic industry, convincing other countries to liberalize their import policy by reducing tariff lines and reducing sensitive list for Pakistan. He said the first phase of FTA with China, Pakistan’s trade deficit had improved from $ 2.9 billion to over $ 12 billion over the last decade. The FPCCI boss warned that continuation of relaxed import policy will keep on harming investment in domestic industry besides causing loss of revenue of billions of rupee to Pakistan.