All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Syed Ali Ahsan recently urged the government to end post budget uncertainty that is adversely affecting production, employment and exports. Patron-in-Chief Gohar Ejaz said due to withdrawal of zero rating for five export sectors, sales are at halt, supply chain has been disrupted and stocks are piling up.
Liquidity crunch is forcing closure of mills resulting in large-scale unemployment and export orders are not being finalised, report quoted Ejaz as saying. He urged the government to ensure rapid refund mechanism for exports, remove input tax invalidity condition in case of non-verification of the national identity card of buyers, bring down rate of sales tax to 7.5 per cent and withholding tax (which is 4 per cent on local sales and 5 per cent on imports) to 1 per cent, withdraw 3 per cent additional sales tax on machinery imports and ensure a level-playing field across the textile value chain.
