ISLAMABAD, July 2: The payment of refund/rebate to exporters recorded a fall of 5.9 per cent to Rs80.043 billion during the 2006-07 as against Rs85.116 billion paid in the previous year.

Official figures released here on Monday showed that the payment of refund/rebate under the heads of direct taxes, federal excise duty (FED) and customs duty witnessed decline, while the payment of sales tax refund registered a nominal growth during FY07 mainly because of clearance of withheld refunds of the last year.

The payment of refunds under the direct taxes fell by 11pc to Rs30.239 billion as against Rs34.001 billion the previous year. Although, the collection under this head had exceeded the target set for the year.

The payment of customs rebate declined by 30.9pc to Rs12.738 billion in 2006-07 as against Rs18.431 billion in 2005-06.

A negative growth of 48.2pc to Rs0.127 billion in the FED refund payment was witnessed during the year as against Rs0.245 billion the previous year.

An amount of Rs36.939 billion was paid under the sales tax refund during the 2006-07 as against Rs18.431 billion the previous year, an increase of 13.9 per cent.