Medicine importers said this afternoon they may have to stop importing medicine because of a lack of cash flow.

Addressing a news conference, Reginald Fava, the president of the Chamber of Commerce section representing distributors of medicines, perfumes and medical equipment, said importers were facing major difficulties because the government was not paying them for the medicine they supplied.

To make matters worse, on Monday they had to pay their value added tax returns and today week their provisional tax.

Mr Fava said that they discussed the matter with Social Development Minister John Dalli but there was no money to pay them before the beginning of next year.

Mr Fava said that as a result of this situation the importers risked having to stop importing these medicines because they lacked the cash flow to pay for the goods.

They would not do this out of choice but because they would not be able to do otherwise.

Mr Fava said that the present financial situation was making the situation worse because suppliers were asking for cash in advance.

Importers, who were about 30, he said, were owed between €25 million and €30 million.

This situation, he said, could only be solved if there was a specific allocation in the year’s budget