The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Aamir Fayyaz has appealed to the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to announce the Textile Industry Revival Package without delay in order to increase exports, create jobs and attract investment in the country.
He said the APTMA members were hoping for the announcement of a much-deliberated revival package, which included removal of incidence of duties on cotton import, duty free import of man-made fibres not manufactured locally, reduction in cost of doing business, drawback of local taxes and levies, eligibility of Long Term Finance Facility for indirect support, refund on packing materials, and lifting of moratorium on new gas and Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) connections.
Aamir said that energy is a major component of the cost of production and its availability on regionally competitive rate is imperative for the export-oriented textile industry. Therefore, the government should notify the NEPRA determined multi-year tariff without surcharges at a tariff of 7-cent per kilowatt hour besides provision of RLNG and system gas at $6/MMBTU to the five exporting sectors of industry. He said a stable macro-economic situation of the country is highly appreciable and the credit goes to the government. Now, a micro-economic stability will strengthen various segments of economy, especially the textile industry that is looking for a growth-led export policy of the government, he added. Aamir said the revival package should be made public without delay since the government and the textile industry representatives are on the same page regarding the measures to strengthen textile industry to ensure viability in the backward and forward linkages.
Chairman APTMA has appreciated a positive contribution of the Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Revenues Haroon Akhtar Khan and other government functionaries in finalising the revival package and hoped for its early announcement.