ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday lifted ban on all import of luxury and non-essential items amid serious foreign exchange crisis.
The ministry of commerce issued SRO 1562(I)/2022 for lifting the ban on luxury and non-essential items, including motor vehicles, mobile phones and home appliances.
The government on May 19, 2022 through a circular No. 598 (I)/2022 imposed the complete ban on import of such items in the wake of serious balance of payment crisis and to prevent fall in rupee value.
Despite the ban, the rupee fell to the historic low of Rs239.94 against the dollar on July 28, 2022.
It is worth mentioning that the foreign exchange reserves were drastically decreased despite imposition of ban on imported luxury items.
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Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have increased by $52 million by week ended August 12, 2022. The foreign exchange reserves of the country have recorded at $13.613 billion by week ended August 12, 2022 as compared with $13.561 billion a week ago i.e. August 05, 2022.
The country’s foreign exchange reserves hit all-time high of $27.228 billion on August 27, 2021. Since then the foreign exchange reserves have declined by $13.615 billion.
The official foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank witnessed an increase of $67 million to $7.897 billion by week ended August 12, 2022 as compared with $7.83 billion a week ago.
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The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank witnessed a record high at $20.146 billion by week ended August 27, 2021. Since then the official reserves of the SBP declined by $12.249 billion.
The country has taken the decision in order to fulfil the condition of International Monetary Fund (IMF) to get loans.
Addressing a press conference a day earlier 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.
He 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.”
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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.
