The federal government exhibited a double standard by giving relaxation in opening LCs for luxury vehicles amid the shutdown of local automobile firms.
The local industry including pharmaceuticals, automobiles and electronics and other companies are worried about the imports of raw materials but the government opens LCs for imports of Rs50 million imported luxury vehicle bookings open
The federal government is adopting a double standard, on the one hand, a complete ban has been imposed on the raw materials of the local industry, and on the other hand, the LCs of BMW’s i7 imported luxury vehicles are being opened.
The booking of these vehicles has been started. According to the car industry, the price of a luxury vehicle is 226,000 Euros i.e. Rs5 crore 47 lakh.
The luxury vehicles will be booked in January and delivered in March. 65 luxury vehicles have been booked in the first phase while giving the green signal of LCs for 165 luxury vehicles.
In the second phase, 100 luxury vehicles have been booked. According to Pakistan Auto Manufacturers Association, three major car manufacturers in the country have stopped production.
Local car manufacturers are worried about difficulties in opening LCs for raw materials. Several appeals have been made to the relevant ministries, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and prime minister of local industries and they have also been published in major Urdu and English newspapers of Pakistan.
On the other hand, LCs worth more than 9 billion are being opened for luxury vehicles.
The officials of the Ministry of Industries and Production, when contacted, said that the SBP has taken some lenient attitude in opening LCs from January 1 and a notification has also been issued in this regard under this notification for booking of BMW vehicles.