Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced that all the Model Customs Collectorates shall remain open on coming Saturday and Sunday 29th & 30th October, 2011, respectively as normal working days in order to facilitate the trade and industry in getting their cargo cleared for imports and exports. FBR directed all the chief collectors to coordinate with management of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to provide banking facility by the designated branches on the aforementioned dates to ensure the payment of duty and taxes. The port authorities and port operators have been advised to synchronise their working accordingly.
After the Federal government decision taken in the 12th October federal cabinet meeting to announced two holidays in a week, traders and the business community have strongly opposed the anticipated plan of the government to announce Saturday as a weekly holiday terming that the decision would further slowdown the already fragile economic wheel and would directly affect the national GDP growth. The businessmen were of the view that this decision would badly affect the working of industries, especially export oriented industries, which work round the clock to meet the export targets throughout the year. They said that an additional holiday in a week would also cause financial loss to the national exchequer.