Import of Used Cars Increased in Pakistan

The government initiated the regulatory duty on over 700 items last year in order to curb the import of the items. There were thousands of cars, which were stopped at the ports as the government has made sudden changes in the tax policy. The government has taken back the tax change and the imports were halted for few months in 2017. If you check the import statistics of the last year, there was no decrease in the import of vehicles. The chairman of CEAFP says that over 80,000 vehicles were imported in 2017 and due to huge demand, the number of the imported vehicles will continue in the coming months.

More Demand

The chairman of CEAFP said that despite of the strict import regulations, the demand for car import was increased during last year. Over 7,000 imported cars were standing at the Karachi port and federal cabinet ordered to release these cars.



The reason for holding the cars at the Karachi port was that the importers misused the scheme that government announced the scheme for non-resident Pakistanis. The availed this scheme to import the cars at low tax rates and they were selling commercially. When the things were sorted out and the units were allowed to clear Karachi port.

70% Increase

The import of used cars was increased by over 70% in one year from 2016 to end of 2017. There were total 38676 units, which were imported in 2016 and the number has crossed 80,000 in value.

The strict import policy was adopted to decrease the trade deficit and the government also thinks that the local auto manufacturers suffer when the imports of cars was increased. It is not true that demand of local cars is at an all time high and the companies have failed to meet these demands. The companies shipped about 285,248 units last year against the demand of 450,000 units. The production of the local companies increased by 107% and they are not able to meet the increasing demands. The sales are increased with increase of 15% year on year in February alone.

Solution

The chairman also told that there is another reason behind the high import of the vehicle, which is the long waiting time given by the local auto manufacturers. People do not wait for long time and they want to get the new car and they prefer the import cars. The imported cars are also added with various better features than the locally prepared cars.

The chairman further added that the imported cars are good for economy and government should make easy import policy. It is also said that the car import business is the second largest business, which can contribute in GDP of the country. About Rs.121.7 billion were added to exchequer with the used car imports and the number is touched Rs.63 billion in 2017 alone.