Cash-starved All Pakistan Textile Mills Association seeks release of Rs329bn refunds
While urging quick decisions to arrest the sliding export patterns, textile leaders on Thursday asked Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to order the prompt release of pending refunds of Rs329.5 billion. A delegation of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma), led by Chairman Kamran Arshad, apprised the finance minister of the challenges confronting textile exporters and called for their early resolution. Mr Arshad briefed the minister on pending refunds and sought policy steps to resolve the textile sector’s difficulties connected to taxation, energy, and finance. He said the association’s recommendations should be incorporated in the upcoming budget. The industry leaders were dissatisfied with the delayed refunds across eight categories, which caused a huge liquidity crunch. Of the overall outstanding refunds amount of Rs329.5bn, a significant portion is deferred sales tax of Rs105bn, followed by Rs100bn in income tax, Rs55bn in sales tax, and the remainder in other categories.