The federal government has announced to lift the import ban on luxury items to meet a condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ahead of the board’s meeting later this month to revive the $6 billion loan programme.
Addressing a press conference alongside members of the government’s economic team, Miftah Ismail said that the import ban on non-luxury items was placed in line with the IMF’s demands.
Miftah said that after much back-and-forth, the IMF has finally announced that its board meeting will take place on August 29 — for considering Pakistan’s request for the release of the $1.17 billion tranche.
The finance minister noted that the government has also fulfilled all the pre-requisites of the lender, while the funding gap of $4 billion has also been met — after friendly countries agreed to help Pakistan financially.
Miftah said that after the import ban, it became easier for the government to import necessary commodities, which were essential for the masses.
“When we have limited dollars and we have to feed a huge population, our priority automatically becomes [the nation]. We had to choose between importing cars and wheat — that’s why we imposed a ban [on non-essential items].”
The finance minister said the government was scrapping the import ban as it was an international requirement, but noted that the regulatory duty that will be imposed on the non-essential imported items will be three times higher than the current levels.
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