KARACHI: The government has decided to start disbursing money against customs rebate and sales tax refunds on July 10.
It will make payments of outstanding refunds of up to Rs1 million initially. Higher amounts will be disbursed after July 15.
The objective is to clear all outstanding refunds by August 14 against Release Payment Orders (RPOs) issued so far. The outstanding payment against issued RPOs is estimated to be around Rs50 billion.
Although exporters claim that outstanding rebate and sales tax refunds are around Rs300 billion, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) insists the amount is less than Rs150 billion.
The textile sector was worst hit as exports in key segments recorded a drop. Exports of leather products also declined 13.7pc during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year. Even an incentives package of Rs180 billion announced by the prime minister has so far failed to stop the fall in exports.
