ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Saturday called upon the government to clear all the verified sales tax refunds of exporters before the end of its tenure.

Verified sales tax refunds of Rs260 billion are reportedly stuck up with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which should be cleared by the incumbent government before May 31, said Sheikh Amir Waheed, president of ICCI, in a press statement. He further said that passing on this matter to the next government would cause further delay in payment of sales tax refunds and create hurdles in efforts aimed at exports promotion. He urged that the government should immediately clear the duty drawback tax claims submitted till date to the Federal Board of Revenue under the Prime Minister’s export package. He further said that verified sales tax refunds of Rs260 billion were reportedly stuck up with the FBR and the government was passing on them to the next government which was creating frustration in the exporters. They emphasised that all verified sales tax refunds should be cleared before the expiry of current government’s term that will mitigate the problems of exporters and enable them to boost the country’s exports.

Other ICCI office bearers said that former Prime Minister had announced a trade enhancement package of Rs180 billion in January 2017 that would expire in June 2018.

They said that the commercial exporters were not included in that package despite the fact that they were making useful contribution to enhancing country’s exports. They demanded that the government should further extend the trade enhancement package and include commercial exporters in it so that they could feel facilitated in promoting exports.