According to Mohammad Shahid Hussain, CEO, Al Ghazi Tractors, the last 4/5 months were quite challenging for the local tractor industry as being one of the lowest trends ever seen over the last few years bringing massive slow down while leading to considerable non-utilisation of capacity.
The volume of sales declined by 30 percent during the second half of the year 2018 as compared to the figures posted during same period last year.
"We are barely surviving the situation and if funds are not released by the government instantly to improve the cash flow, this shut down may become inevitable," he said.
He said that industry has been pleading the government to address the anomaly of input tax vs output tax that leads to completely imbalanced and massive accumulation of refund claims which stand at around Rs2 billion for Al Ghazi alone. "Serious attention is therefore needed with speedy action from government authorities to save us from irreversible damage," he added.
"It is shocking to hear that the government of Punjab is contemplating to import used tractors in Pakistan which would not only be a huge burden on foreign exchange but also hurt the local manufacturers carrying inventory of tractors," Shahid said.