LAHORE, March 29: The federal government has decided to withdraw the 5.5 paisa per unit increase in the electricity rates and the General Sales Tax on life-saving drugs.
This was announced by Federal Information Minister Nisar Memon and Information Secretary Anwar Mahmood at a meeting with editors and senior columnists of newspapers here on Friday.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority Nepra had allowed 12 corporate companies of Wapda to increase electricity rates for domestic consumers under automatic fuel adjustment mechanism on Thursday, while the GST on all local and foreign medicines was imposed on March 21.
According to Mr Mahmood, the decision had been taken by President Gen Pervez Musharraf during a meeting held earlier in the day in Islamabad.
He said Wapda had been asked not to increase the power rates, which were allowed by Nepra on account of upward variation in the fuel prices for the quarter ending March 31, 2002.
Similarly, he said, it had been decided to immediately withdraw the GST on life-saving drugs. A committee had also been constituted to identify other medicines which could also be exempted from the tax.
According to the information secretary, the committee comprised federal finance, health and commerce ministers and officials of the CBR.
Mr Mahmood informed Dawn afterwards that the president had asked the Wapda chairman that there should not be any increase in the power tariff.
Mr Nisar Memon said the government had imposed the GST on medicines under some compulsions but the president was not happy with the decision.
Meanwhile, in a statement Wapda has clarified that the tariff increases are determined by Nepra and notified by the government of Pakistan for its implementation by the utility.
So far, Wapda had not received any notification from the government to this effect. Therefore, the question on increase in the tariff did not arise, the statement said.
It said that it was intimated for the information of general public that Wapda had not revised its tariff as implied in the news item appearing in a section of the Press on Friday.
PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Friday ordered immediate review of drug prices and directed that all life-saving medicines be exempted from levy of GST, adds Our Staff Reporter from Islamabad.
The president warned that no manipulation of drug prices would be allowed. The president issued these directives while presiding over a meeting in Islamabad which also constituted an inter-ministerial committee to finalize a list of essential medicines and review all issues relating to the pharmaceutical industry.
The decision to impose 15 per cent GST on medicines had created an uproar in the country inviting criticizm from all quarters with a demand to withdraw it immediately.
An official announcement issued here after the meeting stated that the President also emphasized that deregulation of pricing was an important element of the government’s economic policies but the deregulation had to be free from exploitation.
The President asked the pharmaceutical industry to pass on the benefits of competitive incentives to the consumers.
The meeting also decided on a number of steps to provide relief to poor patients. The meeting noted that since medicines procured by the government hospitals were exempted from the GST, it was decided that all drugs procured for federal and provincial government hospitals and dispensaries including those for the armed forces will have a separate green packing with a distinct seal to stop their pilferage and re-sale.
