KARACHI, Sept 7: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) has now called the representatives of chemists and druggists meeting in Islamabad on Monday to resolve the GST refund case on imported medicines.

The chairman, Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association (PCDA), Mohammad Ilyas Nanitalwala told Dawn on Saturday that he had received a call from a senior CBR official who had invited him and association’s vice-chairman to discuss the GST refund issue on imported medicines on Monday.

The government, on Friday, had already resolved the GST refund issue of multinationals and local drug manufacturers by agreeing to adjust the sales tax paid by the companies for July and August 2002, against their tax liabilities. This would be partial adjustment against the GST on unsold stocks in the distribution channel— distributors, retailers and wholesalers.

Ilyas said he expected a same formula, which had been agreed between the government and the pharma industry on Friday, to be agreed between the PCDA and the government on imported medicines.

In Friday’s meeting with finance minister, Shaukat Aziz, PCDA officials were not invited.

He said there are over 200 importers all over the country who bring in generic products from China and finished medicines from Korea, England, Germany etc.

According to PCDA chief, the market situation had started improving on Friday as some companies had initiated supplies of products without the GST tag to distributors and retailers. The industry people had also assured the government to ensure that all the stocks in the pipeline were either replaced or GST is defaced after verification.