Parliamentary Committees Shelve Proposed GST on Solar Panel Import
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: This may a be big setback to Minister for Energy (Power Division) as the parliamentary committees on Finance have shelved a plan of proposed imposition of 18 percent general sales tax (GST) on the import of solar panels.
Awais Leghari , a power division minister has been a big advocate to stop solar net metering in Pakistan despite the fact that the world was promoting solar power to produce cheaper electricity.
Earlier, Leghari had introduced a policy on solar net metering in which he had proposed to end the exchange of units and reduce the buyback rate of net solar metering from Rs 27 to Rs 10 per unit.
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But former finance minister Miftah Ismael had criticized and said that the government was buying electricity at Rs 70 per unit whereas the government had reduced the rate to Rs 10 per unit. This had resulted in blocking the policy of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
Then the present government introduced 18 percent GST on import of solar import which also led to strong criticism.
The Finance Standing Committees of both the National Assembly and the Senate have shelved the imposition of the proposed 18 percent General Sales Tax (GST) on the import of solar panels while facing criticism from different quarters.
The government had initially introduced the imposition of 18 percent GST in the Finance Bill 2025. It sparked widespread controversy and strong criticism against the government.
The Sindh Government had also criticized the government which was already distributing solar panels to vulnerable communities. It had also strongly opposed the proposal and raised serious concerns over its potential impact.
Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Langrial also defended the rationale for imposing the GST during committee discussions. However, both committees, chaired by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders, had ultimately turned down the proposal.
The idea of imposing GST on the import of solar panels was originally floated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
