The official representative of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association said that it is not possible to achieve the export target of 12% of the GDP because of the non-serious attitudes of government. The target cannot be achieved by allocating just 4 billion rupees as done in the recently announced budget against Rs 180 billion Prime Minister’s Textile Industry Package announced on 10th of January 2016. According to the given statement, “Allocation of Rs 4 billion under the textile industry package is nothing short of a joke.”
Further, it was criticized that the federal budget for the year 2017-18 has offered simply nothing for the industry and is helpful for the industry in no way and thus cannot increase the exports. Rather than facilitating the sector, the government has burdened the industry with the tax turnover, sales tax and customs duties on cotton import. While addressing the audience, officials said that the industry is already plagued with liquidity crunch amidst uncertainty relating to clearance of billions of rupees of Sales tax refunds. Current accounts, as well as trade deficits, can be reduced by empowering the industry of textile in Pakistan that has a clear potential to earn handsome foreign exchange for the country.
Said was that the government must ensure the provision of a friendly environment for the textile industry with new investments on priority. While addressing the matter, once again the higher energy costs were on the table to the discussion. Stressed was that the government must secure the domestic commerce via tangible measures in order to keep a check on the dumping of raw material and products. Said was that the textile industry is a major contributor to the exports of the country and appealed to the prime minister was the allocation of the funds to honor his Rs 180 billion textile package announced earlier in 2017.
