ISLAMABAD
In a bid to lower the cost of production for export-oriented industries, the commerce ministry proposed on Thursday to cut customs duty rates by up to 72% on hundreds of items in addition to completely abolishing duties on another 151 items. The ministry has forwarded a list of 515 items to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), requesting reduced duty rates on them in the fiscal year 2018-19 budget, which the government will present in the National Assembly on April 27. For quite some time, Pakistan has been struggling to improve exports, which are equal to only 6.9% of the country’s total national output.
