Textile industry hails PM over payment of Rs65bn pending refunds

FAISALABAD: The textile export industry has hailed the government’s move to release Rs65 billion for payment of all verified pending refunds of exporters till March 03, 2024.

This is a welcome move by the prime minister, which will definitely boost the confidence of exporters and encourage the export sector, it said.

Patron-in-Chief, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association, Khurram Mukhtar, expressed the hope that the same spirit will be followed for payment of remaining refunds of sales tax deferred, DDT/DLTL, TUF and markup subsidy.

Currently, an amount of Rs50 billion is ready for payment with SBP on account of DDT, TUF and markup subsidy whereas approximately Rs250 billion are stuck with FBR on account of sales tax deferred, income tax, income tax credit and duty drawback.

Highlighting the adverse impact of high interest rates on industrialisation, he called for urgent measures to alleviate the cost of establishing new industries. He pointed out that due to tough economic challenges, a sizeable textile capacity has been converted into non-functional.

In the absence of any mechanism for rehabilitation, the investment of billions of rupees is turning into scrap.

He urged the new government to evolve a comprehensive policy to make idle units operative, fetch an extra $1.5 billion forex and generate more than 200,000 new jobs.

PTEA’s patron-in-chief was of the view that the country desperately needs to boost exports to narrow its ballooning trade deficit, which has surged to $30.18 billion during the July-February period of the current fiscal year.

He expressed the hope that economic managers of the new government would forge pragmatic policies for sustainable economic growth.