RAWALPINDI: Newsprint and paper used for educational purposes have been exempted from the levy of excise duty proposed in the current year’s Budget. The excise duty of 25 per cent on gold and silver has been replaced by a sales tax of 10 per cent.

These were among the modifications and adjustments in the Budget approved by President Yahya Khan and announced by the Finance Minister, Nawab Muzaffar Ali Qizilbash, today [July 29]. He made the announcement in the course of a speech broadcast over Radio Pakistan and television this evening. It will be recalled that President Yahya Khan had said in his address to the nation yesterday that he had approved certain modifications and adjustments in the Budget “which would give considerable relief to the hard-hit sectors”.

The other commodities and services on which levies have either been reduced or rationalised include stainless steel products, leather and leather footwear, plastic products, fertilisers, hote­­ls and restaurants, and cotton powerloom factories.

The Finance Minister said that the Govern­ment had made these concessions in the expectation that these would provide relief to the deserving sections of society without impairing the fundamental needs of the nation — accelerated economic development.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2020