President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), Mian Zahid Hussain, has said that the issues confronting the textile sector should be resolved so that it can play an effective role in national development.

Speaking at a meeting of FPCCI Standing Committee for Textile, Dying and Processing, through a video link in which business leaders from Karachi, Lahore and other cities participated, he called upon the government to start working immediately so that the next cotton crop could be saved from collapse.

He said that increased taxes, costly energy, the demand for bank guarantees by gas utilities and delayed refunds had increased the cost of doing business.

He said that the importance of textile sector had increased manifold in the current global economic scenario which must be realized.

He said that textile exports could fetch extra billions of dollars for the country.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that apart from all other things, the coronavirus had also reduced price of cotton which would provide relief to our textile sector.

He said that President of FPCCI Anjum Nisar had been busy in serving the business community and forwarding research-based proposals to the government which would go a long way in resolving the issues of industrialists and traders.

Chairman of the committee, Irfan Saeed, said that the textile processing industry was in tatters which should be bailed out. Taxes, energy and exchange rate erosion had taken a toll on this important sector while the cost of raw material had been increased by 30 to 35 percent.

This sector was finding it difficult to fulfill commitments of dying and printing, therefore, duties on the import of raw materials should be reduced, he demanded.

Deputy Convener of the committee Tahir Mahboob said that extension in GSP Plus for two years was a welcome development.