APTMA seeks regionally competitive interest rate

02 Nov '12

2 min read

Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Ahsan Bashir has urged for provision of regionally competitive interest rate in the wake of improvement in the economic indicators.

He has appreciated the government for bringing inflation rate down to 8% besides improvement in current account deficit. This vital sign of improvement in the economic indicators is a big achievement for the government and should be reflected in the upcoming monetary policy to reinforce the government’s commitment of strengthening the economy through investment friendly measures, he added.

He said it is imperative for the economic managers of the country to consider further reduction in the interest rate as a confidence building measure to encourage industrial investment in the country.

Chairman APTMA pointed out that the textile industry in Pakistan has failed to undertake green field or BMR investment since 2006 due to the high interest rates coupled with severe shortage of energy. The time has come to slash down the interest rate at par with regional competitors for the textile industry, he stressed.

Ahsan said a regionally competitive interest rate will attract investment in the textile industry, which is long overdue and will enable to narrow down the technological gap and create incremental capacities for generating exportable surplus.

He said it is an opportune time for the industry to prepare itself for the potential benefits of the imminent market access from the European Union (EU), at zero tariff level on imports into EU from Jan 2014 onwards under GSP Plus.

According to him, the $18-billion textile industry of Pakistan is keenly looking forward to a competitive interest rate before undertaking productive investment in routine. It would also arrest the unemployment rate and provide stage for textile exports regaining momentum for take off. There exists surplus potential for the Textile Industry to convert basic Textile into value added exports, provided conductive environment is made available, he added.

All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA)

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