Pakistan Institute of Development Economics

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Our Need for a National Tariff Policy
P & R Vol.1 Issue 2
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Our Need for a National Tariff Policy

Publication Year : 2020
Author: Usman Qadir

Pakistan’s National Tariff Policy 2019-24 seeks to rationalize tariffs by continuing with some of the past practices such as cascading tariffs; protection of domestic industries and strategic protection. Given that the policy looks to move away from previous policy imperatives, it is important that to the extent possible, these policies are phased out over time. Given that past efforts have had limited success, the NTP should follow the trends prevailing in successful exporting countries. Over the past several decades, tariffs were often raised to help local producers by artificially raising the prices of imported goods above domestic prices. It was expected that this rise in prices should encourage local production of otherwise imported goods. However, the experience was that these increases in tariffs made the local industry inefficient and unable to compete in the international markets.