PTI govt vows to resolve liquidity crunch, cash flow issues

Finance adviser says comprehensive relief package will be offered to industry

ISLAMABAD: The government has vowed to resolve liquidity crunch, cash flow and other related issues being faced by the industry and businesses, said Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.

Speaking at a meeting with leading industrialists on Thursday, he added that work in this regard had begun after the government released the sales tax and income tax refunds as well as duty drawbacks, which were held up for the past couple of years.

Shaikh heard various proposals and suggestions from the businessmen to support and provide relief to the industries and assured the participants that the government would carefully study all the proposals and all the major issues being faced by the industry would be resolved.

He further promised that a comprehensive relief package would be offered to the industry. The adviser briefed the meeting that the government had released Rs52 billion of the claimed Rs57 billion to exporters through the FASTER system and Rs25 billion out of the Rs52 billion sales tax refunds for other sectors and industries. “The remaining amount would be cleared within the next one week,” Shaikh said.

Similarly, the government has also cleared about Rs30 billion tax refunds under the DLT while Rs15 billion duty drawbacks had also been paid.

“Not only this, the government has also decided to pay within the next week all income tax refunds held up since 2014 and this measure alone would benefit nearly 100,000 taxpayers who would be paid over Rs50 billion worth of refunds,” he added.

The businessmen and industrialists, while giving proposals and suggestions, called for an inclusive relief package that addressed the needs of the large-scale as well as small and medium enterprise (SME) sectors. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2020.

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