KARACHI
All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Acting Chairman Zahid Mazhar has congratulated Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on assuming the office of prime minister of Pakistan and hoped that he will leave no stone unturned for the revival of the textile industry and would take steps towards bringing it to its true worth even in the short span of 45 days.
In a statement, he said that Abbasi is a seasoned parliamentarian and businessman and his appointment as prime minister for the interim period is the right step in the right direction as being the federal minister for petroleum & natural resources for last 4 years he knows the problems and issues of the textile industry which is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy.
The acting chairman APTMA reminded the new government of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi that the trade deficit for the last financial year was recorded at an all-time high at $ 32.58 billion, imports at $ 53 billion while exports were recorded merely at $ 20.45 billion, the lowest after 2009-10.
The new prime minister has therefore taken charge when the condition of the economy has reached a very alarming stage. Referring to the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s maiden speech in the parliament after becoming the prime minister, that he will perform the work of 45 months during his 45 days tenure, he requested him to place the revival of the economy and the textile industry on the top of his agenda.
He further said that nobody from the government so far has taken any serious notice of the continuous decline in the exports, and hoped that the Abbasi and his cabinet would prove to be a catalyst of change and take immediate steps to stop the drastic decline in exports during last four years, as any further negligence or delay will take the economy to a point of no return.
He also suggested the new PM to remain engaged with APTMA for arriving at workable solutions to solve the problems being faced by the Textile Industry.
He said that the Textile Industry of Pakistan is capable enough to bring the economy out of the current disastrous condition. It can generate employment and at the same time achieve the export target of $ 36 billion at 12 per cent of the GDP, provided immediate decisions and policies are made to support it. He said that the country in order to survive has to reach annual GDP growth of 8 per cent which is only possible if the government immediately starts giving attention to the export sectors especially the textile industry.
He said that the textile industry has been hit hard due to the high cost of energy with regards to both gas and electricity resulting in making Pakistan’s exports uncompetitive in the global market as the cost of production of both gas and electricity is about 30 per cent higher than the regional competing countries.
The government should remove the levy of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) on the system gas. He further demanded that the government should provide gas at the regionally competitive rate of Rs 400/MMBTU as was earlier announced by ECC in November 2016 but was not implemented. The rate of RLNG should also be reduced to a rational level. Similarly, the electricity tariff for independent feeders should be brought down to Rs 7 kWh without levy of any fuel surcharge. All this is hurting the viability of the industry by increasing the cost of doing business which cannot be passed on to the international buyers.
He demanded the new prime minister to issue instructions to the Federal Board of Revenue to ensure payment of outstanding sales tax refund of over Rs 200 billion by August 14, 2017, as promised by the previous government. The industry is facing severe liquidity crunch due to delay in payment of their sales tax refund as further delay will lead to disastrous consequences. He further demanded immediate payment of all refunds for which RPOs have been issued and processing of refunds of which RPOs are yet to be issued.
Zahid Mazhar further demanded the immediate implementation of Rs 180 billion export-led growth package announced in January this year for textile industry by Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.
