During the first two months of the ongoing fiscal year, the import of old and used cars plunged by a whopping 85% due to restrictions of payment imposed for customs clearance.
According to information released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Monday, the import of Completely Build Units (CBU) plunged to $9.46 million during the July-August 2019 period from $61.88 million in the same months of last year.
This sharp decline is due to a number of reasons according to experts; chief amongst them is that earlier this year the commerce ministry implemented restrictions that the customs clearance can only be done through verified payment.
The transaction has to be made through foreign exchange and a bank certificate showcasing that it was done as a foreign remittance. Other reasons include the increase in the federal excise duty on imported cars and fall of Pak Rupee against the US Dollar.
Completely Knocked-Down (CKD) cars also saw their imports fall by 15.5% due to a higher cost of assembling with imports worth $123 million taking place in July-August 2019 as compared to $145.5 million in the same period last year.
