KARACHI: President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Younus Muhammad Bashir has urged the Federal Ministry of Finance and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to completely withdraw Regulatory Duty on numerous imported raw materials, particularly sugar and hydrogen peroxide with a view to reduce the cost of doing business.

In a statement issued, Younus Bashir pointed out that the exorbitant 20 percent Regulatory Duty along with 20 percent Custom Duty on imported sugar, totaling to a mammoth amount of 40 percent duties, are unacceptable because these high duties not only intensify the hardships for the industry but also create lot of problems for the common man.

He said that unreasonable Regulatory Duty along with high Custom Duty on sugar, hydrogen peroxide and many other essential raw materials result in raising the cost of doing business for industry and also nurture the inflation.

Younus Bashir said that if it was really inevitable to impose Regulatory and Custom Duties for the protection of local industry, these duties should be somewhere in between 5 to 10 percent but the exorbitant RD of 20 percent on sugar has to be withdrawn while 20 percent Custom Duty must also be reduced. “This 40 percent is too much, which is equivalent to hurting and destroying the relevant industries”, he added.

President KCCI stressed that all such Regulatory and Custom duties have to be reconsidered and drastically brought down with a view to encourage industrial production and ease the inflation. In this regard, the Regulatory Duty and Custom Duty have to be reconsidered in consultation with Karachi Chamber and other relevant trade associations, he advised, adding that withdrawal of Regulatory Duty and reduction in Custom Duties on sugar will surely bring down the cost of doing business and ensure relief for the already overburdened common man who suffers terribly in the ongoing era of inflation.

He particularly noted the skyrocketing local prices of sugar have intensified miseries for common man as this product is frequently being used in every single household across the country. Sugar prices have risen from Rs55 per kg to around Rs70 per kg mainly due excessive Regulatory and Custom Duties which terribly hamper the production performance of the industry and inflate the prices of many household products including sweets, juices, medicines, beverages etc.—PR