February 27, 2003	Thursday	Zul Hijjah 25, 1423

ISLAMABAD, Feb 26: The import value of Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) surged by more than 110.89 per cent during the first seven months (July-January) period of the current financial year, over the corresponding period of last year.

Official figures released by the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) here on Wednesday, showed the import value of ATT during the July-January period stood at Rs10.456 billion against Rs4.958 billion during the same period of last year, showing an increase of Rs5.498 billion.

During the first six months (July-December) of the current financial year, the import value of ATT rose by 147 per cent, over the corresponding period of last year.

On monthly basis, the import value stood at Rs1.519 billion in January 2003 against Rs1.068 billion during the same month last year, showing an increase 42.2 per cent.

Official sources said that the exclusion of more items from the negative list would result into massive imports under the ATT. The government is considering withdrawing those items from the negative list which do not affect the production of local industries, said the officials.

According to them, the CBR would allow only those items to be withdrawn from the list which were not prone to smuggling and would not result in loss to the revenue collection.