1 comment.Medicine imports may stop due to lack of funds
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Medicine importers have said that they may have to stop importing medicine because of a lack of cash flow, the importers are owed in the region of €25 to €30 million.
Reginald Fava, the president of the Chamber of Commerce section representing the distributors of medicines, perfumes and medical equipment, has said that importers are facing major difficulties because the government was not paying them for the medicine which has been supplied.
Mr Fava said that they had discussed the matter with the Social Development Minister, John Dalli, but were told that there is no money to pay them before the beginning of next year.
Mr Fava said that as a result of this situation there was a risk that they would have to stop importing the medicines because they lacked the cash flow to pay for the goods. He added that the current financial situation was making matters worse because suppliers were asking for cash payment in advance.
Mr Fava said that the only solution to clear the accumulated arrears was to create a special allocation in the budget.
He said that an EU directive on ‘late payment’ entitled the importers to report the issue to the EU, but that this is seen as a last resort.
Is this a joke,To hear that the government owns 25 to 30 million to these importers.This surely shows the state of our Government.
To make matters worse, on Monday they had to pay their value added tax returns and today week their provisional tax.
How come that the Government forces them to pay Vat when they owe them all those millions baffles me…..