ISLAMABAD: On Friday, the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce was worried about the rise in anti-dumping duty (ADD) on steel bars, which has caused the prices of steel bars in the country to go up.
Senator Zeeshan Khanzada was in charge of the committee, and the secretary of the Ministry of Commerce told them that the ADD on steel bars will last until September 2022. Due to an increase in the ADD, the price of one tonne of steel bars has gone up to Rs115,000. Abdul Qadir says that this is bad for the whole country.
At the meeting, a senior member of the National Tariff Commission (NTC) talked about the commission’s job and its budget proposals for the fiscal year 2022–23. She informed the meeting that half of the raw materials were not taxed.She said that the ministry is trying to lower the costs of making things.
She said that the next budget proposal will cut customs duty (CD), regulatory duty (RD), and additional customs duty (ACD) by slab.
She also said that a tax cut has been proposed for the agriculture part, which includes farm inputs and farming equipment.
Senator Mushtaq Ahmed said that the public was worried about how many countries the Secretary of Commerce visited and how much each trip cost. The committee looked into this. The information that the Ministry of Commerce gave to Ahmed was good enough for him.
But he was very worried about Pakistan’s trade deficit and said the country should trade more with nearby countries like Afghanistan, Iran, and the Central Asian Republics (CARS).
Senator Dilawar Khan brought up the fact that Trade Corporation was bringing in low-quality wheat, which was something the committee talked about.
Senators Fida Muhammad, Saleem Mandviwalla, Mohammad Abdul Qadir, Mushtaq Ahmed, Muhammad Qasim, Special Secretary Ministry of Commerce, Chairperson (NTC), and other senior ministry officials were there.
