At a press conference held on Friday, textile lobbies, particularly operating those operating in Punjab, have demanded that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman to resign over non-clearance of outstanding sales tax refund claims of the industry.
Present at the occasion were members of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma), Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA), Textile Processing Mills Association, Towel Manufacturers and All Pakistan Textile Exporters Association who blamed the Ministry of Finance as well as the FBR for a continuous decline in exports.
The Aptma Chairman, Aamir Fayyaz mentioned that the FBR’s rolling back of RPOs (Refund Payment Orders) to cross-check authenticity of the sales tax refund claims has happened for the first time in history. Fayyaz further added that FBR chairman and all other concerned officials should resign from their posts .The Aptma Chairman condemned the fact that three months had passed since the announcement of a textile package by the prime minister, but not a single rupee had been disbursed until now.
PHMA Chairman Adil Butt also condemned the government’s attitude stating that the Rs180b revival package for export-oriented industries may not be sufficient to meet the targets  unless unsettled refund cases of exporters were resolved and funds promised in the package were disbursed without any further delay.
Due to a lack of competitiveness in comparison to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and China, the benefit of GSP Plus status granted by the European Union had been virtually nullified, the PHMA chairman stated.
The industry leaders requested that the government to immediately withdraw the FBR directives to roll back the RPOs for immediate payment of the outstanding sales tax refunds.
They also suggested that the government devises a uniform energy price mechanism across the country to ensure consistency and become competitive in the international market.
