Pak textile exporters demand friendly budget

09 May '15

2 min read

The Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has urged the government to announce a business-friendly budget besides resolving the energy crisis in the country, the Pakistani media has reported.

“The government should bring in reforms and give special status to the export-oriented textile industry to boost investment and revive growth,” said PTEA chairman Sohail Pasha.

The budget for 2015-16 is to be announced in June.

He said the textile sector is the only hope for the country’s economic revival, but it is plagued with high production costs. “The government should provide a level playing field and we can witness textile exports almost doubling,” he added. “The budget should facilitate the export-oriented sector.”

Many incentives under the textile package including complete settlement of all outstanding refund claims and rationalisation of the refund regime was announced in the previous budget, but it could not be implemented, he added.

“Around 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the working capital is still stuck.” The whole textile export chain should be zero rated from spinning to finished goods in order to get rid of the financial crunch, PTEA demanded.

“Sales tax refund should be processed in less time and in a transparent manner to streamline the entire refund verification and sanctioning process,” said Pasha.

The PTEA also expressed concern about the supply of gas and pointed out that the textile sector is getting just one third of allocated gas supply though domestic demand has dipped significantly on rising temperature. Pakistan is unlikely to fully utilise its installed capacity due to severe energy shortage and textile exports could not get the momentum unless the government takes serious measures to pull textile sector out of crisis that holds back the textile industry, PETA said. (SH)

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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