Govt asked to review policy on diesel sale

ISLAMABAD – The National Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce Tuesday asked the government to review its policy of sale of diesel to Afghanistan at cheaper rates and recommended that imported products should only be further exported to any third country at a cost equal or above the price being charged from consumers in Pakistan. The recommendation was made in a report laid in the national assembly by Chairman of the Standing Committee on Commerce Engineer Khurram Dastagir Khan on a Bill to amend the Imports and Exports (Control)Act, 1950 [The Imports and Exports (Control) (Amendment) Bill, 2010].
Presenting the report, Khurram said the committee had unanimously recommended that a product, which is deficient in Pakistan and is imported at the cost of foreign exchange, will only be further exported to the third country at a cost equal or above the price being charged from consumers in Pakistan. He said the proposed amendment will help improve the national economy. The report expressed concern that the government was extending different waivers on export of various products to the neighbouring country Afghanistan. As a result, the national exchequer had to bear undue burden of billions of rupees every year, it added.
The report said that diesel was a deficit product in the country and was imported at the cost of foreign exchange. “It does not make economic sense to export a deficit commodity on cheaper rate, whereas the people of Pakistan pay an additional Rs 20 to 30 on the same product,” the report said. On the other hand, the export of same commodity was causing huge losses to national exchequer because of misuse of the export facility, as the petroleum products, which were exported to Afghanistan, were being sold back in the country after receiving such waivers from the Government of Pakistan, the report said.
The report added that companies and bulk purchasers were earning huge profits through unfair means from the domestic market. Therefore, it was the need of the hour to incorporate the recommendations in the Act to safeguard foreign exchange and interest of Pakistani consumers, the report concluded.