Pakistan Cleared Imports of Luxury Cars while Essential Items Remained Stuck in Ports: Report

A report by Pakistani news outlet the Dawn which says the Pakistan government allowed import of 2,200 luxury vehicles in the first six months of the current fiscal year amid the ongoing economic crisis will further put the Shehbaz Sharif-led government in further trouble.

The report pointed out that when forex reserves were dwindling and import of essential items and industrial goods were restricted, the government allowed the import of luxury vehicles.

Due to strict foreign exchange control, there are containers filled with essential commodities stuck in the ports of Pakistan. The Dawn quoting traders said that the number of containers has risen to 5,500 but its own tally said that the number of containers stuck in Pakistan’s ports have reached 8,500 in the first half of this year.

These containers contain consumer goods, industrial goods, pharmaceuticals and perishable products and are yet to be cleared by the authorities, however, the authorities cleared luxury cars swiftly, Dawn reported.

The reason why these containers are stuck is due to the non-opening of letters of credit (LCs).

However, according to data accessed by the news outlets, Pakistan allowed import of 193 cars of which 25 fell within the category of 1,000-1,800cc and four vehicles fell within the 1,800cc during the period under review.

Between July and December 2022, Pakistan allowed import of 164 luxury electric vehicles. The import duty and taxes from these imports earned was close to PKR2 billion but that is negated since the importing of these vehicles cost hundreds of billions of Pakistani rupees.

Between July and December 2022, Pakistan cleared the import of nearly 1,990 three years old luxury vehicles. Only overseas Pakistanis are allowed to import these vehicles but the report pointed out that importers misused this facility and paid 10 million Pakistani rupees to facilitate the import of these vehicles.

Pakistan collected 7 billion Pakistani rupees revenue on import of used vehicles during the first half of the current fiscal year. More than 1,450 used vehicles, which fall under the 1,000cc category, were imported by Pakistani authorities. They imported 370 vehicles which fell under the 1,000-1,800cc category and also imported 20 luxury electrical vehicles.

The bulk of 1,450 used vehicles was imported in the category up to 1,000cc. The import of vehicles between 1,000-1,800cc stood at 370 vehicles while the import of luxury electrical vehicles stood at 20 during the period under review.

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