Sugar price to go up by Rs 6.33 per kilograms

KARACHI – The affect of calculating sales tax on actual market price of sugar through the recently promulgated presidential ordinance will fall heavily on consumers, as sugar price across the country would increase by around Rs 6.33 per kilogramme.
The fresh ordinance is sure to multiply the woes of the inflation-hit masses.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Chairman Javed Kayani said the sales tax on the market price of sugar, which was around Rs 65 to 70 per kg, would further increase the price of the commodity.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has cancelled SRO 564 (I)/2006, whereby sales tax was charged on sugar at the rate of Rs 28.88 per kg, but under the fresh move, the sales tax would be assessed per the actual market price of sugar. However the rate of sales tax on sugar would remain unchanged at eight percent.
He said per the latest decision, the association had no option but pass on the additional charges on consumers, as the government had not taken it into confidence before making the decision. Despite various requests to fix the new price from first of October every year, the government was not ready to listen to sugar millers, he said.
Referring to a recent letter sent to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, he said his association had requested Gilani that if the government wanted to increase GST on sugar, the decision should be implemented before the start of new crushing season. He said PSMA had also requested the government not to increase GST on sugar, as this would increase the commodity price by Rs 10 per kg and multiply the woes of the masses.
Although the government had not increased the GST, it had imposed the levy on sugar at the market price, which would jack up the sugar price to around Rs 72 to Rs 77 per kilograms. Kayani said the current rate of GST on sugar was 8.5 percent at the rate of Rs 28 per kg, much lower than the market price of sugar.