A flourishing pharmaceutical sector with an edge in quality and acceptability distinguishable from among the regional and geographically existing country’s product are hard hit by the discriminatory policy of the government, exporters said on Monday.
The pharmaceutical sector at present is contributing substantially to the gross domestic product and endeavouring to capture the global export market. It is facing hardships, as the government is not paying any heed to their genuine grievances, Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) member said Monday.
The main cause of hurdle is of ignoring the guidelines of trade policy, which envisages sharing of marketing and promotional charges incurred by the exporters to be borne and subsidised by the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan to the tune of the agreed amount from the export development funds collected from the exporters, PPMA representative Mumtaz Maker said.
It appears the Export Development Fund (EDF) has been used for subsidising blue eyed hot favourite exporters or has been drained out for another purpose leaving the privileged exporters to stand in queue for years without any definite timeframe of payments or reimbursement to them, with the result the pharmaceutical exporters are left at the mercy of financial institutions for their financial requirements who are compelled to borrow the money from banks at 18 percent interest rate or even more with financial liabilities accrued on their shoulders notwithstanding their own money is held back by the concerned authority, she added.
TDAP claims that enough funds from the EDF have not been released to be subsidised and paid to the aggrieved claimants, she claimed.
The EDF is tax collected from exporters, purely for the development of exports. Then why, the Ministry of Finance has diverted Rs 7.2 billion to other sectors and has not even considered the consequences on economy and desperation in exporters, she asked.
Indeed, the EDF should not be held with the Ministry of Finance, rather, it would have been appropriate if managed by the representatives of exporters and TDAP who is responsible for the development exports.
“It has created a sense of deprivation among the exporters of pharmaceuticals, which grows with each passing day and they feel that the government was not serious for the uplift of pharmaceutical exports to draw the share of world market for which the private sector was working day and night by spending huge amounts, exporters said.
“The agenda of the concerned government department seems to let the exporters succumb to the doors of policymakers who are sitting at the helm,” Maker said.
She said, “Millions of dollars funds of several exporters of pharmaceutical have not been released to date on one pretext or the other.”
It is high time the government should seriously address this issue on priority basis to save many export houses of the country, who are bringing into Pakistan valuable foreign exchange by marketing.
The government should not jeopardise the prospect of long-term economic growth and attract investment with its insatiable appetite for pharmaceutical export system resources and a support from the government in implementing and strictly adhering to the policy in respect of reimbursement to the exporters from EDF for the futuristic growth and that should not be one time affairs.
The pharmaceutical sector at present is contributing substantially to the gross domestic product and endeavouring to capture the global export market. It is facing hardships, as the government is not paying any heed to their genuine grievances, Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) member said Monday.
The main cause of hurdle is of ignoring the guidelines of trade policy, which envisages sharing of marketing and promotional charges incurred by the exporters to be borne and subsidised by the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan to the tune of the agreed amount from the export development funds collected from the exporters, PPMA representative Mumtaz Maker said.
It appears the Export Development Fund (EDF) has been used for subsidising blue eyed hot favourite exporters or has been drained out for another purpose leaving the privileged exporters to stand in queue for years without any definite timeframe of payments or reimbursement to them, with the result the pharmaceutical exporters are left at the mercy of financial institutions for their financial requirements who are compelled to borrow the money from banks at 18 percent interest rate or even more with financial liabilities accrued on their shoulders notwithstanding their own money is held back by the concerned authority, she added.
TDAP claims that enough funds from the EDF have not been released to be subsidised and paid to the aggrieved claimants, she claimed.
The EDF is tax collected from exporters, purely for the development of exports. Then why, the Ministry of Finance has diverted Rs 7.2 billion to other sectors and has not even considered the consequences on economy and desperation in exporters, she asked.
Indeed, the EDF should not be held with the Ministry of Finance, rather, it would have been appropriate if managed by the representatives of exporters and TDAP who is responsible for the development exports.
“It has created a sense of deprivation among the exporters of pharmaceuticals, which grows with each passing day and they feel that the government was not serious for the uplift of pharmaceutical exports to draw the share of world market for which the private sector was working day and night by spending huge amounts, exporters said.
“The agenda of the concerned government department seems to let the exporters succumb to the doors of policymakers who are sitting at the helm,” Maker said.
She said, “Millions of dollars funds of several exporters of pharmaceutical have not been released to date on one pretext or the other.”
It is high time the government should seriously address this issue on priority basis to save many export houses of the country, who are bringing into Pakistan valuable foreign exchange by marketing.
The government should not jeopardise the prospect of long-term economic growth and attract investment with its insatiable appetite for pharmaceutical export system resources and a support from the government in implementing and strictly adhering to the policy in respect of reimbursement to the exporters from EDF for the futuristic growth and that should not be one time affairs.
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