Govt to fast-track NBR split, says Salehuddin

The finance ministry plans to make progress on pending tasks by December

The government is expediting the restructuring of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) into two separate divisions.

The advisor said this following a meeting of the government procurement committee on Wednesday.

“We’ve already completed some immediate tasks. Others, like the Bank Resolution Ordinance, will take more time. Regarding NBR, we plan to amend the existing ordinance. Our target is to make meaningful progress by December,” he said.

In May, the government issued an ordinance to split the NBR into two parts. However, this triggered criticism from within the civil servants, as officers from the BCS (Taxation) and BCS (Customs) cadres claimed the move “curtailed” their benefits and authority.

Now, the government is planning to issue a revised ordinance to formally convert the NBR into two independent divisions.

Responding to a question on whether the tariffs imposed by the United States are “relieving”, he said: “It would have been better if the US set slightly lower tariffs. What they’ve done is okay, but I wouldn’t call it reassuring. Ideally, there should have been no retaliatory tariffs at all.”

He added, “A formal agreement has yet to be signed. Once that happens, we’ll review areas that require tariff cuts and what imports we need to allow.”

Commenting on the broader economic situation, Salehuddin said: “The economy has recovered significantly from the edge of collapse. The crisis was quite precarious, but now we’re in a relatively stable position. That said, challenges remain -- particularly inflation, employment, energy, and tariffs.”

He added that the biggest challenge is rebuilding entrepreneurs’ confidence and speeding up commercial activity, which has slowed down recently.

When asked whether funding the general election would be an issue, the advisor replied: “The money required for the election will be provided. There’s no problem with that.”