It is interesting to note that government has finally agreed to provide electricity to textile sector at 7.5cents/kWh, withdraw all additional surcharges till June 2020. The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) also managed to persuade the government to take back all additional surcharges and add-ons over and above the concessionary rate till June.
According to a press statement issued by the Finance Division, the government also agreed to provide Rs20 billion total subsidy for power and petroleum in the form of cross subsidy and/or allocation, in the next budget. However, sources in APTMA said that they had not yet agreed to the government’s recommendation.
Imran Khan, the Prime Minister was scheduled to meet the textile sector and address the issues faced by the export-oriented sector, however he couldn’t attend it as Abdul Razzak Dawood, Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce chaired the meeting in his place. Hammad Azhar, Economic Affairs Minister Nadeem Babar, PM’s Adviser on Petroleum, Omar Ayub Khan, Federal Minister for Power and Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, Punjab Governor were also there.
The APTMA delegation was led by Gohar Ijaz and comprised of Dr Amanullah Kassim Machariya, APTMA Chairman, Adil Bashir, Chairman APTMA Punjab, Abdul Rahim Nasir, APTMA Punjab Senior Vice Chairman, Shahid Sattar, APTMA’s Executive Director and other officials.
