All Pakistan Textile Mills Association Chairman Iqbal Ibrahim on Thursday said that the country's textile industry has capability to enhance textile export up to 20 billion dollars during next five years if the government provides cheapest land, smooth supply of electricity and gas on rationalised rates.
Addressing a press conference along with zonal chairman Tariq Saud here, he said that at present the country's textile sector is facing shortage of electricity and gas, besides high rate of interest, which is causing decline in exports. He said that many things in the budget are still unclear, however the overall direction of the budget is on right side, which would encourage the industrial growth in the country.
"There are 12-15 items in the budget that require clarifications, while the overall budget would benefit the industrial and agricultural growth," he observed. He said the government has focused on agri and manufacturing sector, which will help reduce rising imports and improve the productivity.
"We can not control inflation through monetary policy. It needs some other steps including improvement of supply chain, which is likely to improve after the steps taken in the budget," he said.
About increase in minimum wage to Rs 6,000, he said that it is a good step for poor class to survive in the face a soaring inflation. He said that textile sector is already paying over Rs 8,000 wages to some 80 percent employees and only unskilled labour is getting minimum wages.
"Although the government still hasn't cleared the Research and Development (R&D) support, however, we believe that if it is discontinued, textile sector would be rendered uncompetitive in the international market," he said.
He said that textile is the single largest export sector, whose share in overall exports stood at 60 percent besides it is also providing 14 percent of jobs. However, he said that rising cost of production has badly hurt the industry and its exports with the result that during current fiscal year it registered lower export growth as compared to last fiscal year.
The government has announced special measures for the agricultural and manufacturing sector, which is a good sign, he added. He said that import duty on over 300 luxury items in the next fiscal year will help bring down high imports and provide new opportunities to local industry.
He said the government announcement to allow Wapda to import duty-free plant will also help it overcome energy shortage and enhance its capacity of power generation. He called for announcement of a long-term economic policy. He said that during the current fiscal year textile export would be over 10 billion dollars.
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