Commerce Ministry Issues Rs. 6 Billion Refunds on Export Duties

The Ministry of Commerce has released refunds of Rs. 6 billion under the duty drawback on the local taxes and levies scheme. The Advisor to the Prime Minister on Trade and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, tweeted the news on Thursday, adding that the refunds include Rs. 5.40 billion for the textile sector and Rs. 600 million for non-textile sectors. “I hope this will resolve the liquidity issues of our exporters amid COVID-19 pandemic and enable them to enhance exports,” he said. The drawback on the local taxes and levies (DLTL) scheme is an incentive whereby exporters and importers can recover some duties and taxes they paid on imports. It is one of the government’s recent initiatives aimed at boosting exports, another of which is the ‘Made in Pakistan’ trade policy which seeks to incentivize local production and encourage value-added exports. As the country’s imports rise and its trade gap widens, the government seems to be focusing on improving exports. Pakistan’s trade deficit grew by 120 percent year-over-year (YoY) in the first two months of FY 2022, as imports surged by 73 percent to $12.1 billion. Meanwhile, the country’s exports grew by 28 percent YoY to $4.6 billion in July and August, and slipped by 4.5 percent on a monthly basis. Pakistan’s textile exports surged by 28.67 percent YoY during the first two months of the current fiscal year. Similarly, the exports of the information technology industry rose to $420 million in the first two months of the current financial year as compared to the exports worth $287 million in the same period last year.