KARACHI: MCC Appraisement East and MCC Appraisement West have reported a plunge of 11 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively in March 2019, as the legal imports have been reduced considerably due to improper policies of the government.
An official said both MCC Appraisement East and MCC Appraisement West had competent officers as collectors, but the revenue collection would decline further as most of the legal import had been switched towards smuggling.
Government recently linked imports of automobiles with the payment of duty/taxes in foreign currency, which limited automobile imports to minimal. Moreover, government issued SRO 2327(I)/2019 making labeling in Urdu and Halal Certification mandatory for the import of all edible goods, while regulatory duty was also raised on several goods.
Although these are positive measures but the same were taken without proper planning and homework as instead of benefitting the economy, these measures further dented the government revenues. An official said import had reduced due to a recession in the country, which the PTI government was failing to even understand. Besides, much of the importers had opted for smuggling hitting hard Customs revenues.
MCC Appraisement West collected a total of Rs24.67 billion in March 2019, down 8.0 percent compared with the collection of Rs26.815 billion in March 2018. MCC Appraisement East has achieved 80 percent of the assigned target.
MCC Appraisement East collected a total of Rs35.01 billion in March 2019, down 11 percent compared with the collection of Rs39.18 billion in March 2018. MCC Appraisement East has achieved 74 percent of the assigned target.