Early release of Rs300bln refunds urged

KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Saturday demanded the government to immediately release the stuck up refunds, which are accumulated to over Rs300 billion, a statement said.

FPCCI President Ghazanfar Bilour said: “The government has completely ignored the miseries of exporters and stopped repaying billions of rupees stuck in the refund claims for years.”

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had promised the FPCCI that claims would be processed immediately, but to no avail.

The FPCCI president said due to liquidity crunch exporters have been forced to close their manufacturing units. The closure of businesses not only incurred heavy losses to the exporters, but would have severe impact on the national economy, he added.

Bilour said that small and medium size exporters are facing survival issues and those who can afford it are looking for other countries to set up their manufacturing units, which will result in capital flight out of the country. “This underscores the need that the government should take this very seriously,” he said.