ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Thursday assured representatives of the textile industry that the promotion of export-oriented sectors was the top priority of the government.

During a meeting with the textile exporters, the finance minister further directed the relevant authorities to resolve all the issues at the earliest.

The exporters met the finance minister for the second time in the past couple of weeks to inform him about the challenges they are facing related to income tax, sales tax refunds, deferred payment claims and exchange rates.

They complained that the tax machinery had withheld exporters’ refunds to show a rise in the overall revenue collection and there were delays in the availability of subsidised loans on already approved projects.

A delegation of the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) shared with the finance minister about the contribution of the textile sector to the economic development of the country. It was highlighted that this sector contributes heavily to exports and is effectively bringing in substantial dollars into the country.

Mr Miftah was also apprised about the various issues faced by this sector especially related to sales tax refunds which result in a liquidity crunch for the suppliers of the textile industry.

The textile sector’s pending refunds stood at Rs35 billion on account of sales tax and Rs30bn in income tax. The tax credit amount of the textile sector is around Rs20bn.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2022