Pakistan bans export of 212 items to Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce has banned the export of 212 items to Afghanistan under the Transit Trade Agreement, ARY News reported on Thursday.

According to SRO Number, 17 types of clothes, all types of vehicle tires, tea leaves, cosmetics and dozens of toiletries have been banned.

Similarly, nuts, dry and fresh fruits, home appliances including fridges, refrigerators, air conditioners, juicer, and mixer blenders have also been banned from being taken to Afghanistan.

The move comes a day after Pakistan imposed a 10 percent processing fee on several items imported under the Afghan transit trade agreement.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 18D of the Customs Act, 1969 (IV of 1969), the Federal Government is pleased to impose processing fee at the rate of 10 percent ad valorem on the following Afghan transit Commercial goods imported into Afghanistan in transit via Pakistan,” said a customs department notification.

The items affected include confectioneries, chocolates, footwear, various machinery, blankets, home textiles, and garments.

Pakistan has formulated a new strategy to curb financial losses to the exchequer from the Afghan transit trade, it emerged Friday.

Sources told ARY News that Pakistan suffered an annual financial loss of Rs180 billion from the Afghan transit trade. To curb the financial losses, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) formulated a new strategy to stop smuggling of the transit commodities.

The documents mentioned that Pakistan would take 100% guarantee of all luxury items in the Afghan transit trade.

The federal government decided to end the smuggling of luxury items through the Afghan transit trade following the recommendations of the Special Investment Facilitations Council’s (SIFC) apex committee.

According to the documents, a ban was imposed on the exports of several luxury commodities including tyres, fabrics, cosmetics, tiles and other items until their clearance from the relevant authorities.