The Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) has earnestly called upon the government to release stuck up refund claims accumulated into billion of rupees.
In an SOS sent to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaque Dar and Minister of Commerce Khurram Dastagir, Acting Chairman PRGMEA Amir Amin Kothawala appealed to look into this serious matter and order the release of exporters’ money which has been held up by the ministry of finance for the last several years and has now reached to Rs40 billion against refund claims of Duty Drawback of Local Taxes & Levies (DLTL, Sales Tax and with the Customs.
The federal government announced the scheme regarding Duty Drawback of Local Taxes & Levies (DLTL) in 2009 for the exporters, in which 3% was share for the garment sector, besides additional 1% drawback was promised to exporters who will achieve an increase of 15% in exports, this was never announced. Though the period has been expired in June 2011 but our exporters are waiting for their reimbursement against DLTL.
“The stuck up capital of the exporters has accumulated to around Rs. 40 billion in terms of DLTL, Sales Tax and Customs while the sector’s stuck-up claims are 9-10 billion alone in terms of DLTL”, Amir said adding that due to these stuck up payments the exporters are facing acute liquidity crunch.
“Now, we are going to prepare ourselves for the GSP Plus status from EU expected to start by early next year but we have to fulfill some conditions for the preferential status. No support is being provided to this vital sector and the exporters are facing severe problems in negotiating orders with EU buyers due to financial crunch,” he added.
He said that on one hand exporters are being pushed to enhance our declining exports in adverse market conditions while our rightful dues are being withheld, how can we be expected to finance our operations when we don’t have the required funds, he questioned. He urged upon power corridors in Islamabad to resolve this important issue on priority basis in order to save crippling exports.
