ISLAMABAD – Germany has expressed reservations on difficulties being facedofficial importers of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi in Pakistan due torestrictions imposed by the cash-strapped country on imports to tackledepleting foreign exchange reserves.
The German Ambassador to Pakistan Alfred Grannas sent a letter to FederalMinister of Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, stating Pakistan may loseits Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP-Plus) status due to suchrestrictions.
The ambassador wrote that the Germany always appreciated “Government ofPakistan’s outlook towards environment protection and efficient utilizationof natural resources, clean and green energy. A positive regulatoryframework for Electric vehicles’ imports has been a major step in thatdirection”.
“I would like to draw your attention to the difficult situation of officialimporters for Mercedes-Benz. BMW and Audi in Pakistan who identifiedelectric vehicles best suited to this vision and placed their ordersaccordingly with the respective OEM’s. We have learnt, however, that theState Bank of Pakistan is constantly declining to open any of their Lettersof Credits through their commercial banks,” read the letter.
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The ambassador said the move cast a shadow over the good and friendlyrelation between the two countries. “Germany is not only the mostsignificant and largest trading partner of Pakistan in the entire Ell (byvolume and value), Germany is also one of the leading countries infinancial assistance for people most affected by the floods last summer,”he highlighted.
