Islamabad (Staff Report): After a strong criticism from opposition parties and farmers’ bodies, Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif announced to retain fertilizer subsidy.
PM ordered departments concerned to issued an order to restore the subsidy on fertilizers. He said that agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan and our fellow farmers are a major part of the country’s economy.
However, the government had not withdrawn the General Sales Tax (GST) subsidy on fertiliser amounting to Rs184 per 50kg bag of urea. Under this subsidy, it has reduced sales tax from 17% to 5%.
The government had allocated Rs28 billion in cash subsidy on fertiliser sales, but it was discontinued earlier in the week after the entire amount was consumed.
