APTMA terms GIDC Act 2015 anti-business initiative

All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has termed Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) Act 2015 an anti-business initiative, saying that the imposition of GIDC will lead to closure of export-oriented textile industry, which may result in law & order situation in the country.
APTMA Sindh-Balochistan Region Chairman Tariq Saud said on Tuesday that such harsh steps would raise the cost of doing business and overburden the taxpayers besides becoming the cause for complete shutdown of the export-oriented textile industries. "Instead of taking such punitive steps, the government should focus on facilitating the business and industrial community that will automatically generate more tax revenue, create jobs and enhance exports," he added. The APTMA Chairman said that the textile industry was already facing crisis because of high cost of doing business and liquidity constraints.
He said that the textile industry refunds worth Rs 160 billion were already pending with the government, hence the industry was facing a serious liquidity crunch; therefore it was not in a position to pay GIDC at all. "Re-introduction of GIDC and its implications will add salt to the injury and the industry will be burdened further in the absence of liquidity flow," he added. "Three smaller provinces are producing 96 percent of the total natural gas produced in the country and consuming only 40 percent. Total consumption of these three provinces is left as surplus, which shows that we do not need any more infrastructure; therefore there is no logic of GIDC imposition," he said.
He further said that GIDC would not only make the country's textile products uncompetitive in the region but would also result in flight of capital. He said the textile industry exports registered a decline of 16 percent in the month of March 2015 as compared to preceding period of the last year and the basic textile exports witnessed a decline of 10 percent during the first ten months of the current fiscal, despite the advantage of GSP Plus. Furthermore, some 30 percent capacity of the industry had already been closed down because of liquidity crunch and energy constraints, he added. The APTMA Chairman urged the economic managers to come forward to save the export-oriented textile industry of the country.