All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has urged the government to restore zero-rated regime for textile sector as it has failed to honour its commitment to pay fast-track refunds.

Addressing a press conference Thursday at APTMA House, Dr Amanullah Kassim Machiyara, Chairman APTMA appreciated the State Bank of Pakistan's move to increase the limits of export loans by Rs 100 billion saying these measures will definitely help boost the country's exports.

However, he said, timely payment of refund claims is still a major issue and needs resolution on high priority. "Exporters are disappointed over the performance of the Federal Board of Revenue's new Fully Automated Sales Tax e-Refund (FASTER) System as the commitment of the FBR to instantly release exporters' refund claims has not been fulfilled," he added.

Despite the FBR commitment that sales tax refunds will be paid within 72 hours of submission of claims, billions of rupees of exporters are stuck on account of sales tax refunds.

Exporters are facing financial hardships due to delay in refund payments and unable to procure raw materials for manufacturing of goods meant for exports, Machiyara said.

"In this situation, the best option is support the export-oriented industry and restore the zero-rated regime and impose sales tax on local sales. If the government fails to restore zero-rated regime, exporters will not be able to deposit sales tax aims at ensuring timely payments to their workers," he added.

He also highlighted the cotton crisis saying that during last 10 years domestic textile sector posted a healthy growth while production of basic raw material, ie, cotton is on the decline. Exporters are already facing multiple challenges and shortage of cotton will increase the competition in the world market, he added.

Machiyara said the country is likely to have a cotton crop of 9 million bales against the demand of 15 million bales. In addition, cotton price surged from 58 cents to 66 cents in the world market due to short crop of Pakistan. Former Chairman APTMA Yasin Siddik, Asif Inam, Naseem Usman and others were also present on the occasion.