Pakistan’s Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) has raised customs duty from the existing 15 to 16 per cent on the import of 508 items. These include purified terephthalic acid (PTA)—a raw material for polyester—and fabrics of noil silk, and dyes. Items now subjected to 16 per cent duty include woven fabrics of other vegetable textile fibres, woven fabrics of paper yarn, and other fabrics containing 85 per cent or more by weight of silk or of silk waste other than noil silk and Meranti Bakau and preforms made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The FBR will collect 16 percent duty on the import of woven fabrics obtained from high tenacity yarn of nylon or other polyamides or of polyesters, woven fabrics obtained from strip and the like, fabrics specified in Note 9 to Section XI, unbleached or bleached, dyed of yarns of different colours, printed, unbleached or bleached, dyed, of yarns of different colours, printed, containing 85 per cent or more by weight of nontextured polyester filaments, woven fabrics obtained from high tenacity yarn of viscose rayon, unbleached or bleached, dyed, of yarns of different colours. In addition, under the amended Pakistan Customs Tariff (PCT) issued through Finance Bill 2016, import duty has also been raised from 10 to 11 percent on import of another 900 items.
