Pakistan’s national tariff policy is facing questions over its claim that the country has higher import duties than regional economies, with industrialist Amir Ullah Wala arguing that the government used different measures to compare tariff rates across countries.
Speaking at the 39th international conference and annual meeting of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists, Wala said Pakistan’s reported tariff rate of 18.54 percent includes additional customs duties and regulatory duties, while the figures used for India, Bangladesh and other regional economies rely only on customs duties.
According to World Trade Organization data, Pakistan’s simple average applied customs tariff was 10.3 percent in 2023, compared with 17 percent in India and 14.1 percent in Bangladesh, he said.
Wala argued that including different types of duties only in Pakistan’s figures makes the regional comparison uneven. The government’s national tariff policy cites Pakistan’s 18.54 percent rate, comprising a 10.3 percent customs duty, a 3.65 percent additional customs duty and a 4.57 percent regulatory duty.
A Commerce Ministry spokesperson said the 18.54 percent figure represents Pakistan’s overall average import duties. The spokesperson added that the WTO does not include para-tariffs when calculating tisimple average tariff rates in its tariff profile reports, although interpretations of the term and its application vary.
Dr. Rubina Athar, a former chairperson of the National Tariff Commission who was involved in preparing the tariff policy, said the definitions of duties used for Pakistan and other countries were not uniform. She noted that Pakistan’s 18.5 percent rate did not include other import-stage taxes, such as sales tax and withholding tax.
Dr. Manzoor Ahmad, a member of the Tariff Policy Board, said the figures presented by Wala and Athar were both valid within their respective contexts.
Under the national tariff policy, Pakistan aims to reduce its import duty rate from 20.1 percent to 9.7 percent by 2030, with the goal of cutting import protection by about 52 percent. The plan has raised concerns among industrial groups.
Wala argued that Pakistan’s weak export performance cannot be attributed solely to high import tariffs. He cited security and geographic challenges, limited access to African, Central Asian and South American markets, high electricity costs, elevated interest rates and higher taxes in the region as other factors affecting exports.
The Commerce Ministry said the WTO uses information provided by individual countries when determining tariff rates.
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