Pakistan tanners call for rebate payments to be routed through banks
Frustrated at continuing delays in receiving their export payment rebates, the Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) has urged the government to restart issuing the rebates through scheduled banks.
In a letter to the Minister of Commerce, the Chairman of the PTA, Farrukh Hussain Shaikh, highlighted Customs General Order No 02/1996 which allows the payment of rebates through banks instead of the Central Board of Revenue. Using this method, payments of rebates to exporters would occur at the time the revenues are realised by the banks.
"By involving the banks, we would not be at the mercy of CBR and therefore much better positioned to plan our cash flows" Farrukh said. "At the moment, many of us do not have the funds to pay our workers, let alone make payments to our suppliers".
In making the proposal, the PTA chairman warned that because of the CBR’s continuing intransigence, Pakistan’s leather industry was now perilously close to losing out on the world wide boom in demand for leather garments.
He went on to say that the association had had meetings with Customs collectors in Karachi and Lahore, but still no payments had been released. "We believe that a cheque had been prepared, but that the CBR had prevented its release. This has created serious liquidity problems for PTA members," he added.
The PTA chief concluded his letter by asking the minister to chair a meeting between the PTA and the CBR, at which the whole issue could be aired.
