Ghee mills demand removal of tax exemptions to Fata/Pata

KARACHI: The Chairperson of the Ghee Mill Association has said that if the Fata/Pata (Federally Administered Tribal Areas/Provincially Administered Tribal Areas) scheme is maintained in the FY2024-25 budget, ghee oil factories will be closed across the country from July 1.

Chairperson of the Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) Abdul Razak, while addressing a press conference along with former chairperson of the PVMA Sheikh Umar Rehan at the Federation House, said on Firday that all ghee oil factories working in Pakistan “are paying a tax of Rs85 per kg while factories in Fata/Pata are giving only Rs15 per kg.”

He said that PVMA members have decided to go to the Supreme Court against the government’s decision. “We will fight a legal battle and call for a strike,” he said.

Sheikh Umar Rehan said that the price of ghee per kg will increase by Rs10 to Rs12 after the budget is passed adding 156 ghee mills are working across the country, and 50 per cent of them have been closed due to Fata/Pata.

He said that the current finance minister is also looking helpless in front of these forces. “Three million tonnes of edible oil is imported across the country, in which Fata/Pata import 353,000 tonnes. The region’s tax-free oil and ghee are coming back to the country.”

Sheikh Umar Rehan said that if the tax exemptions given to Fata and Pata are not reviewed in six years, the government will lose about Rs180 billion to Rs200 billion. “The tax exemption given to Fata/Pata should be removed immediately to save the government revenue and save the ghee industry of Pakistan,” he said.

They said that Pakistan’s ghee industry was worth Rs2,400 billion, which provided Rs500 billion in taxes. Thus, tax exemptions to industries in tribal areas should be removed and the ghee industry of the country be saved.