The booming retail market of Pakistan which was all set to cross the whopping $50 billion mark suffered a major setback as SROs issued by the Federal Bureau of Revenue during the end of 2018 levied regulatory duties, as high as 70 per cent, on 570 commodities.

Since imports are a sizable part of the retail sector of this massive industry, these policies have not been welcomed by the retail industry very wholeheartedly.

This was stated by Mansub Abrar, director of Pakistan’s leading super market chain and an active member of retailers association.

He said that even the consumers were not happy with the new decisions made by the government either, because Pakistan’s manufacturing sector is not well equipped, at least for now, to compete with the products from the international market.

On the other hand, he argues that since there have been talks of flooding the Pakistani market with locally made products; consumers have continued to show noticeable concern about the quality of what they would eventually be purchasing.

Since the late 2018, the Punjab Food Authority has found 47 local brands of frozen desserts and ice creams to be unsuitable for consumption and several beverages to have not met the standard of food regulations set up by the state, he remarked.

He stated that the possible ban on cheese and fruits, as one of the EAC members Ashfaque Hasan Khan hinted at by saying, “Does this country, which doesn’t have dollars, deserve this, that it is importing cheese?” raises a question: Are we efficient enough yet to replace high quality, imported goods? Food and dairy businesses in Pakistan have not proven themselves to be of high standard.

Certainlocal cheese producers are not even certified by the ISO.

Munsab pointed out that given the circumstances, could the people and local retail businesses in Pakistan afford being slapped with such high regulatory duties at this point in time?

The current government, on one hand, encourages the manufacturing sector to become self-sufficient and promotes investment, however, on the other hand is working to raise the interest rates, which would naturally avert investments. Surely, these puzzles need to be solved.

He said, “By suddenly deterring the importers from duly doing their business, the government is taking the risk of rendering thousands of people unemployed without any crutch to rely on. It is therefore, needed that the authorities let the current retail businesses, which rely heavily on imports, take some time to adjust to the new rules. Eventually, they would be able to shift towards the local production while also safeguarding their investments.”

He added that the authorities need to get the high-level importers and prominent figures in the food and other retail businesses of Pakistan on-board in finding solutions to these very serious problems.

It is necessary to consult the retail companies which have been in business for decades, have all the insights about the sector and are actively participating in it, and, most importantly contribute to the ever booming retail industry of Pakistan, he remarked