Senior Economist Ali Khizer has revealed that the government spent millions of dollars in November bringing in high-end electric vehicles and luxury cars, despite the fact that the country is struggling to preserve its limited foreign exchange reserves and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is not issuing Letters of Credit, which is impeding the production of locally assembled vehicles.
Khizer reported on Twitter that 54 luxury cars, including 8 Lexuses and 46 Land Cruiser and Prado models, were imported in November 2022, with an estimated worth of $1.2 million (based on $22,000 per car). The prices of these expensive cars are under-declared and wrongly assessed, which is a drain on both forex and taxes.
Khizer noted that eight of these are brand-new Land Cruisers from the 2022 model, with pre-tax prices expected to be $60k and an average assessed value of $46k.
But this is not all; in the final nine days of November, 17 high-end electric automobiles were also imported.
According to Khizer, the 100% regulation tariff on electric vehicles expired on November 21st, and 17 EVs were imported (custom declaration) in the month’s final nine days.
The majority of these EVs are expensive Mercedes-Benz EQE/EQS, BMW iX3, and Nissan Leaf models. Importing on the very same day that duties are waived cannot be a coincidence; rather, it must have been premeditated, according to Khizer.
The range of these electric vehicles’ landed prices (pre-tax) is from $50k to $125k.
Surprisingly, some of these $100,000+ vehicles have reported and assessed values of around $10,000. According to Khizer, many additional auto imports are anticipated in December 2022.He concluded that Rome is burning while kings and princes are busy purchasing EVs at below-market prices.
Pakistan’s foreign reserves are running out, and while imports relevant to the industrial and commercial sectors have been stopped, the government’s massive expenditure begs many questions. Let’s wait and watch how the government handles these allegations.
