ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet decision on refund of General Sales Tax (GST) on unsold drug stocks is expected soon.

A senior official said on Wednesday that the decision to this effect has already been taken and the summary was sent to the ECC for approval.

According to the official, the ECC was expected to take the decision in its next meeting.

He said that once it was approved, it would be notified by the CBR. However, the official said that the CBR could not stop the retailers from charging the GST in some areas as the CBR was not the implementing authority.

The CBR has agreed in principle to refund the GST on drug stocks paid during July to the manufacturers and no tax would be collected from them in August.

The government has withdrawn the 15 per cent GST on August 23, but it was yet to be implemented.

Informed sources said that the delay in the decision would benefit the manufacturers in selling their GST-paid products on one hand and on the other they would get refund from the government.

The sources said that under the new order, it was the responsibility of the health ministry and to some extent of the ministry of industry to implement the decision in letter and spirit to provide the relief of withdrawal to the poor people of the rural areas in particular and urban areas in general.

It was due to the lukewarm response of the health ministry towards the issue, the retailers were still charging the tax on medicines in most part of the country, said the sources.

On the other hand, the delay was causing inconvenience for the poor who were still buying the GST paid medicines from the chemists, said the sources.

Interestingly, when the decision was being taken, the representatives of the manufactures had pledged that they would made an extensive campaign through media requesting the chemists not to charge GST on medicines from the consumers.