Islamabad
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs considered various bills in its 25th meeting held here on Thursday with MNA Asad Umar in chair.
The Committee discussed “The Pakistan Coinage (Amendment) Bill, 2019”, the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce informed that they have taken up the matter with Pakistan’s Embassy in Brussels for their comments regarding implication under GSP plus status of Pakistan, if any. They have responded that proposed legislation may not be made at this point of time. The Committee directed the Finance Division to coordinate with Ministry of Commerce in that regard and furnish its view for further consideration of the said Bill.
Minister for Economic Affairs Mr. Muhammad Hammad Azhar briefed the Committee about the updated position on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) matter. He apprised the Committee that Pakistan has significantly completed action plan on 22 items out of 27 given by FATF under International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG). He informed that plenary meetings of the FATF were held in Paris during October 13-18, 2019, wherein Pakistan Progress on 27 point FATF Action Plan during July 2018 to September 2019 was reviewed.
Hammad Azhar informed that ICRG in the last meeting expressed its satisfaction on the progress about the measures taken by the government. The representative of Federal Board Revenue (FBR) also informed that FBR-Customs has played a leading role about to achieve the targets under FATF action plan pertaining to FBR. He further informed that to identify and to understand risk associated with Terrorist Financing (TF) involvement in cash couriers, FBR has been developed a Sectoral Study on Cash Smuggling.—INP
