APBUMA chief for immediate payment of outstanding refunds

MULTAN: The All Pakistan Bedsheet and Upholstery Manufacturers Association Chairman Syed Muhammad Asim Shah has demanded immediate payment of outstanding refunds without any discrimination for better export growth.

Talking here on Friday, Syed Muhammad Asim Shah expressed concern over delay of payments of refunds and said that massive working capital of textile exporters around 30pc was still blocked in sales tax, custom duty drawback and income tax refunds, which was the major cause of exports decline.

He said that the government should revive ‘No Tax No Refund’ scheme for the export-oriented sectors as the cost of production had increased, resulting in decline in textile exports. He lauded the government’s intentions to resolve the refund issue by giving assurance of payment of refunds upto Rs5 million.

Asim Shah urged the government to pay all outstanding refunds without any limit. He termed the value added textile sector as the backbone of the economy with great potential for earning foreign exchange. Concerned over continuous export decline, he said that competing countries were rapidly multiplying their exports just because of the edge they had on the cost of doing business and other incentives offered by their governments.

Pragmatic policies in consultation with stakeholders need to be formulated to reduce the cost of business by fixing rates of inputs in line with competing countries in the global market to create a level playing field, he suggested. The APBUMA chairman demanded the government bail out textile industry and exports from financial crisis by removing all hurdles.