By Karuna Thapa
Kathmandu, March 13
The import margin has been provided, according to Finance Minister Janardhan Sharma
(Prabhakar), to address the economy’s issues.
Finance Minister Sharma, speaking at a seminar on Customs Management held at the Customs Department in Tripureshwor on Sunday, urged that the objective be met by working hard, despite the fact that the restriction of imports has harmed customs revenue collection.
”The country’s economy is now in a difficult state. To counter this, we have imposed a margin on some imports” he stated ”However, it is not preserved indefinitely,” he explained.
The seminar, he added, will be helpful in addressing difficulties at the customs office, dealing with new challenges posed by policy, being effective in revenue collection, and playing a key role in trade facilitation. He also conducted a seminar to find a remedy to the businessmen’s dissatisfaction with the categorization system in the import of products.
He further stated that a guideline for vehicle scanning in the customs office is now being
written and would be adopted shortly. He told his staff that they needed to speed up income mobilization by making commerce easier.
He acknowledged his delight at exceeding the objective for customs revenue mobilization by mid-January. Despite the restriction of imports, Ananda Kafle, deputy director-general of the customs department, claimed that despite the objective of Rs 305 billion revenue collection by mid-January, Rs 308 billion revenue was received. This is up by 29% over the same time the previous year.
