Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry's (FPCCI) president, Ghazanfar Bilour has urged the government to honour its commitment and start processing the refund claims to the exporters which have been now accumulated to the tune of more than Rs 300 billion. The FPCCI chief lamented, "It is unfortunate that government has completely ignored the misery of exporters who have their billions of rupees stuck in the refund claims for years".
He recalled that the Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi about seven months ago in his meeting with the FPCCI delegation had promised that claims would be processed immediately but nothing has moved since then. The FPCCI president elaborated that cash crunch because of these stuck up money had forced the businessmen, specially exporters, to close their manufacturing units and as such has severely affected the economy, especially the exports, and resulted in increase in unemployment ratio of the country and has rendered the businessmen frustrated.
He argued that small and medium size exporters are facing their survival issue and those who can afford it are looking for other countries to set up their manufacturing units, which is resulting in capital flight out of Pakistan. "This underscores the need that the Government should take this very seriously", he said.
He referring to the country's economic future outlook warned that it is alarming as loss of confidence of business community in governments commitments in giving back their legitimate refunds would further erode their confidence and make things worse.
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