Levy of GST on computers affects sales in Pakistan
Pakistan Times Business & Commerce Desk

ISLAMABAD: The imposition of 15 percent General Sails Tex (GST) on the import and sale of computers, computer hardware, printers and accessories in the federal budget for fiscal year 2006-07 has affected very adversely the sales of all computer related equipment.

Pakistan Computer Association (PCA), which has monitored the sales and business of the computers after a week from the new budget, has observed a great slump in the computer business around the country.

The PCA held its emergency meeting here on Saturday and discussed the impacts of the GST on new computers and declared the imposition of this tax as the killer of computers industry.

The President of Pakistan Computer association Munawar Iqbal briefed during the meeting that this enhancement in the GST will not only damage the customers and businessmen but will directly affect millions of students those are studying in the Information Technology related disciplines around the country.

He said that concession in custom duty was allowed in the last federal budget to facilitate and promote computer literacy in the country and to make it affordable for the common man as well as educational & technical institutions.

“Imposing exorbitant GST on these products will not only increase the prices by at least 25 to 30% but would make them costly and unaffordable for the common man, educational institutions and thousands of other users”, he said
while analyzing the prices of computers after the GST imposition.

Revealing the study made by the PCA in a post budget initiative, he said that this will also badly affect thousands of local dealers, traders and assemblers and might lead to closure of their businesses which would result in unemployment to thousands of skilled and semiskilled technicians and employees.

He said that local assemblers would also face increase in cost of doing business/assembly manifold.

Assembly of one computer involves hundred of components; many of them are manufactured locally, absorbing lot of employment opportunities.

“The Computer industry is employing tens of thousands of educated, skilled and semi skilled persons who would eventually face threat of loosing jobs due to lowering of sales of computers and accessories”, he said.

The PCA feared that it might encourage smuggling also which will create further problems for the local assemblers and government as well. “Every where in the world concessions & exemptions are allowed to facilitate applications, promote, utilizations of computer in the country, it is not a luxury rather a most needed product in this technologically fast changing world” Munawar Iqbal commented.

The computer association proposed after their meeting that previous practice of recovering custom duty should be continued instead of imposition of 15% GST.

The all stakeholders attended the meeting from Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi including Aslam Pirzada, Asif Shahzad, Arshad Janjua, Rao Shahid Iqbal, Muhammad Abbas Naeem, Irfan-ul-Haq, Irfan Shahzad, Nadeem Khan, Muhammad Ijaz and Mujeeb Ahmed.●