February 8, 2003	Saturday	Zul Hijjah 6,1423

ISLAMABAD, Feb 7: The value of dutiable imports increased by 11.17 per cent or Rs24.981 billion to Rs248.574 billion during July-Jan period of 2002-03 against Rs223.593 billion during the same period last year.

Official figures available with Dawn showed that the raise in dutiable imports resulted into an increase in customs duty by 45.2 per cent to Rs33.687 billion against Rs23.2 billion the same period last year.

The increase in the dutiable imports also pushed sales tax collection up by 15 per cent at import stage during the period over corresponding period of last year. A similar increase was witnessed in the collection of withholding tax.

On the other hand, the value of total imports during the period stood at Rs416.054 billion against the Rs375.847 billion of last year, showing an increase of 10.69 per cent.

This showed that the value of duty-free imports increased by 9.99 per cent to Rs167.479 billion during July-Jan against Rs152.254 billion the same period last year.