In a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance held under the chairmanship of Senator Talha Mahmood, it was revealed that a total of Rs58 billion has been received from textile exporters under development charges.
Furthermore, it was also brought to knowledge that this amount has not been spent for the last 29 years as the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has not released it.
The Ministry of Commerce officials have said that funds were taken in the name of export development but were not spent. A total of Rs770 million is usually collected annually for export development. These funds were meant to be spent on export development.
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Businessmen Group (BMG) Chairman & Former President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Zubair Motiwala has said that the exporters should be given relief and receipt of funds from exporters should be suspended due to the ongoing pandemic.
The committee said exporters also demanded the restoration of zero-rated scheme for the textile sector. Last year, there was a discussion with former finance minister Hafeez Sheikh, Zubair added.
Earlier in June, the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Shaukat Tarin had directed the concerned authorities to suspend the collection of Export Development Fund (EDF) surcharge from exporters until the accumulated amount with the government is utilised.
