NA body defers PIA tax exemption

The National Assembly standing committee on finance has deferred the approval of significant tax exemptions for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), creating a dilemma for the government. Secretary Privatisation Usman Bajwa revealed that the new buyers did not explicitly ask for exclusive preferential exemptions, only 15 years of concessions for policy consistency, contradicting earlier perceptions. This puts the government in a difficult position, as withdrawing the exemptions might violate the sale-purchase agreement with the Arif Habib-led consortium, which acquired PIA for Rs180 billion, while extending them to all airlines would impact the budget within the IMF program. The committee, chaired by Syed Naveed Qamar, is urging the government to either withdraw the exemptions or extend them to all airlines to avoid discrimination, a point strongly raised by MNA Sharmila Faruqi regarding injustice to other private sector airlines.