ISLAMABAD, Nov 20: The government has announced procedure and conditions for claiming 25 per cent freight subsidy on export of new products and export to new markets, a senior official told Dawn on Wednesday.
The incentive, announced in Trade Policy 2002-03, was aimed at encouraging export of new products and having access to new markets.
To claim the freight subsidy, a separate account would be maintained out of Export Development Fund (EDF) with National Bank of Pakistan, FTC branch, Karachi.
This account would be replenished once every three months or earlier by the government, said the official.
The process of application, approval, disbursement of subsidy would include the condition that exporter would lodge claim within 15 days of actual realization of export proceeds of shipment with necessary supporting documents with his bank.
The bank would examine documents to ensure eligibility and validity of the claim on the basis of list of eligible countries and products. If the claim was valid, the bank would credit the subsidy amount to the account of the exporter within seven days of receipts of application.
If the claim was invalid, the bank would return the claim to exporters with a covering letter giving reasons for return of the claim within seven days of the application.
The bank would maintain record of all claims received, paid and refused; bank would claim reimbursement of the subsidy paid out to exporter from the NBP and NBP would ensure reimbursement of the subsidy to the bank within two working days of the receipt of reimbursement request.
A review committee would be established in the Ministry of Commerce with the membership of the Export Promotion Bureau, the State Bank of Pakistan and Central Board of Revenue.
The committee would meet quarterly or earlier to monitor and review the operation of the scheme and decide disputed claims. However, time-barred cases would not be entertained.
The exporter’s bank would be responsible for scrutiny of the documents and ensuring the eligibility of the claim before making payment. And the shipping companies, airlines, freight forwarder, air cargo agents would be responsible for the documents issued/certified by them for the freight subsidy purposes, added the official.