Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PCMEA) Senior Vice Chairman Usman Ashraf said that they sent viable proposals to the government with great effort and good intentions, but unfortunately, none of the proposals were included in the budget for the next financial year.
He said that the current financial year has seen a continuous decrease in exports and due to the lack of any relief in the new budget, the trend of decrease will continue in the next financial year as well. He further said that the government has set a target of 30 billion dollars for exports in the next financial year, but this is not by the ground realities.
He expressed these views while addressing the review meeting organized in the office of the association.
Chairman of Carpet Training Institute Ejazur Rahman, senior central leader Abdul Latif Malik, Riaz Ahmed, Parvez Hanif, Saeed Khan, Major (R) Akhtar Nazir, Shahid Hasan, Kamran Razi, Umair Usman, and others were also present in the meeting.
The participants of the meeting expressed their concern over not including the recommendations of export-related organizations in the budget presented by the government and demanded that these suggestions be made a part of the budget before the final approval from the National Assembly.
Usman Ashraf said that in the current situation, export is the only tool that can support our economy; therefore, the increase in export of every sector is inevitable.
“The government has set an export target of 30 billion dollars for the next financial year, but the question is what incentives and facilities have been given to manufacturers and exporters in the budget, which will enable this target to be easily achieved,” he asked.
He said that no concrete plan has been made in this regard and keeping in view the declining trend of the current financial year, it can be said that it will be difficult to achieve the export target in the next financial year as well.
He said that there is an appeal to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Commerce Minister, and Chairman FBR to listen to our requests and solve the long-standing problems hindering the production and export of handmade carpets. “We should be given concessions and relief so that we can compete with other countries in the region and earn valuable foreign exchange for the country. The State Bank and Chairman FBR have also been informed about our problems, but no steps have been taken to solve them, which is a cause for concern,” he concluded.
