Pakistan to import old machinery from China at cheaper rates: Finance Minister

Islamabad: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Miftah Ismail has said that Pakistan would import old machinery from China at cheaper rates.

Speaking at a news conference here, along with Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik, he maintained that the government was focusing on creating job opportunities and reviving the national economy, for which it looked into the possibility of importing industrial machinery from China that had become obsolete for China due to fast pace of development.

“This measure would help establish industrial units in the special economic zones of the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor), under the government policy to encourage joint ventures,” he contended.

He reiterated that the hard times would pass in four-five months, following which there would be the era of economic stability and subsequent prosperity.

He said that there was a record tax collection by the Federal Board of Revenue, which had also exceeded the target of Pakistani Rs 61000 billion set by the previous government.

In addition, he mentioned that the board government had paid all the processed duty Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) pending for the last three years. As per Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s instructions, a few days ago we paid all processed DLTL claims pending for the last three years, he added.

The minister announced that the Board also paid all processed Faster, Sales Tax, Income Tax and Export Rebate claims that were due.

The minister said that with successful negotiations, the programme with International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reached a positive stage and the fund had recently issued a Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP).