ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: The tax authorities have paid out Rs31.9 billion refund/rebate to exporters during the first half of the current financial year against Rs31.89 it paid during the same period last year, showing an increase of only 0.03 per cent.

Official figures released by the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) here on Thursday showed that the payment of sales tax refunds to exporters registered a growth of 16.7 per cent during the period under review over the same period of last year. However, the customs rebate declined due to rationalization of duty drawback rates.

The statistics showed that tax authorities paid out Rs24.7 billion sales tax refunds to exporters during the July-December period of the current financial year against Rs21.2 billion it paid during the same period last year, showing an increase of 16.7 per cent.

The payment of customs rebate to exporters during the period under review stood at Rs7.2 billion against Rs10.69 billion it paid during the same period last year, showing a decline of 32.6 per cent.

On monthly basis, the payment of sales tax refunds to exporters stood at Rs4.6 billion during the month of December 2003 against Rs3 billion during the same month last year, showing an increase of Rs1.6 billion.

A customs official said that there was virtually no pendancy so far as payment of rebate was concerned. He said that the decline in rebate was actually the saving for the national kitty due to rationalization of duty drawback rates.