Islamabad: During a meeting with Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, a delegation of the country’s cement manufacturers urged the federal government to further rationalise taxes — according to a news source published today (August 26). The manufacturers warned that cement prices might have to be raised if the tax rates were not further reduced.
As per the source, the government is faced with a choice of either reducing its revenues by PKR 20 billion, or seeing the prices of cement rise by about 10%. As per the cement manufacturers, the current cement price (falling between PKR 525 and PKR 600) can only be sustained if there is a one third reduction in Federal Excise Duty (FED), among other changes like revised rates of valuation for inputs and a 10% advance tax from dealers not on the Active Taxpayers List.
The cement manufacturers had expressed the need to also increase prices by PKR 100 before the budget, however, the government had promised to reduce FED by half — from PKR 2 per kg to PKR 1 per kg. However, the actual reduction in budget had been half that amount due to revenue concerns.
Now the manufacturers are looking to increase their prices by as much as PKR 50 to PKR 70 per cement bag.
