Customs reforms help increase average revenue per GD by 16pc to around Rs7.7m

ISLAMABAD: Customs reforms introduced under the Prime Minister’s Maritime Task Force have increased the average revenue per Goods Declaration (GD) by 16 percent to around Rs7.7 million, while import-related tax collection rose 14 percent and customs clearance time at ports dropped from 53 hours to 18 hours, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said on Thursday.

Addressing a joint press conference alongside Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Maritime Task Force Iftikhar Ahmed Rao and Secretary Maritime Affairs Nadeem Mahbub, and FBR Member Customs Syed Shakeel Shah said the reforms formed part of the task force’s broader agenda, under which 85 of the 99 identified reform measures had already been completed to improve Pakistan’s maritime competitiveness and ease of doing business.

Shah said the introduction of the faceless customs assessment system had been one of the most significant reforms, eliminating direct interaction between customs officials and importers, improving transparency and strengthening compliance.

He said the average revenue per Goods Declaration had increased from Rs6.8 million to around Rs7.7 million, reflecting a 16 percent improvement. Import-related tax collection had also increased by 14 percent, with eight percentage points attributed to improved enforcement and compliance, while the remaining six percentage points resulted from higher import volumes.

He said customs clearance time had been reduced from 53 hours to 18 hours since the establishment of the task force. The next target is to reduce average clearance time to 12 hours over the next one to two years, bringing Pakistan below international benchmarks.

According to Shah, anti-smuggling enforcement has also yielded positive results, legal imports of tyres increased by 42 percent, fabrics by 41 percent, toiletries by 75 percent, and electronics by 105 percent, indicating a significant reduction in illicit trade. He said the crackdown on tyre smuggling had also restored investor confidence, making local investment in tyre manufacturing commercially viable.

The FBR member said the task force had facilitated the formulation of a regulatory framework for ship bunkering, enabling international operators to plan fuel supply operations at Karachi and Gwadar ports. Dredging work had also begun at both ports to accommodate larger vessels and strengthen Pakistan’s position as a regional logistics and transshipment hub.

He said customs duty and sales tax on ships and shipbuilding had been abolished to encourage investment in the maritime sector, while cargo handling procedures at Azakhel Dry Port had been streamlined through faceless customs assessment.

Shah said work was underway on Digital Enforcement Stations under the FBR transformation programme to facilitate legitimate trade through risk-based enforcement while intercepting smuggled and tax-evaded goods without disrupting compliant businesses.

He said freight forwarding agents were being brought under an automated registration regime through the Pakistan Single Window (PSW), while licensing examinations for customs agents had been outsourced to the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, to improve transparency and professional standards. A point-based accountability system had also been introduced to improve the quality of customs declarations.

Among the upcoming reforms, the FBR plans to expand advance filing of Goods Declarations, enabling importers to complete customs formalities before cargo arrives in Pakistan. Advance declarations currently account for around eight percent of filings, with the target of increasing them to over 50 percent during the current fiscal year.

Shah said customs operations at ports were also being expanded towards 24-hour working through fresh recruitment. The Pakistan Single Window-based Port Community System would digitally integrate customs authorities, regulators, ports, terminal operators, banks, and logistics providers to enable online processing of trade documentation and payments.

He said the FBR was also modernising its 14-year-old WeBOC customs platform, with major modules scheduled for rollout during the current financial year and full implementation targeted by June 2028. Artificial Intelligence-assisted non-intrusive cargo scanning and modern cargo tracking systems had also been introduced to strengthen risk management and monitor container movement from ports to inland destinations and border crossings in real time.

Shah said the task force had also resolved the long-pending issue of 4,000 to 5,000 litigation-hit containers, freeing valuable port space for import, export and transshipment activities.

Chairman Maritime Task Force Iftikhar Ahmed Rao said the reforms had significantly improved Pakistan’s maritime performance, with the country’s global maritime ranking improving by around 30 percent. He said Pakistan was now ranked 69th globally, while Port Qasim had emerged among the world’s top-performing ports.

Rao said Pakistan’s strategic location positioned it as a natural gateway to Central Asia and that the task force had prioritised resolving long-standing issues across the maritime sector to improve trade, logistics and investment.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026