Rs40.5bn refund claims being paid immediately: Miftah Ismail

FAISALABAD: Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail promised here on Saturday that Rs40.5 billion refund claims of DLTL up to April 30, 2022, would be paid to the claimants on an immediate basis.

Addressing a delegation of the business community from Faisalabad, he explained the current economic situation and said the best efforts would be made to facilitate industrialists and exporters within the given circumstances. He said that despite financial constraints, the sales tax refunds would also be cleared on a fast-track basis.

About the shortfall of electricity, he promised that industrial feeders would be exempted from loadshedding.

He said that the government was not happy with the decision to increase the prices of petroleum products but it had become inevitable in the current economic scenario.

President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) Atif Munir Sheikh explained the problems that cropped up along with its global, regional and local impacts on Pakistan's economy. “We are not begging for subsidies but the government should provide equal opportunities to the exporters to compete with their regional competitors,” he said, and demanded that the government must maintain current electricity and gas rates for the industrial sectors to achieve growth targets. He said gas supply should also be restored immediately for the captive power plants. He said that loadshedding was detrimental to industrial production and hence the government must eliminate it by making all non-functional power plants operational.

The meeting was also attended by Federal Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir Khan, State Minister for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik, secretaries of the respective ministries in addition to the representatives of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).