Khalid Iqbal Malik, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called upon the government to address the genuine issues of textile industry on priority basis to save it from further problems. He said that the Prime Minister had announced export incentive package of Rs.180 billion for the textile industry, but the government was dragging its feet on its implementation which was creating concerns in the textile industry. He stressed that government should ensure prompt implementation of said package in letter and spirit to revive the industry and improve exports. 
 

He said that the tax refunds of around Rs.300 billion of textile industry were stuck up with FBR due to which the industry was facing liquidity problems. He stressed that government should take measures for prompt clearance of all stuck up tax refunds to ease the woes of textile industry. He said that textile sector was playing leading role in exports of the country, but due to lack of attention from government side, exports were going down. He stressed that government should come up with strong measures to rescue the textile industry from current difficulties. 
 

He said as per report of All Pakistan Textiles Mills Association (APTMA), around 150 textile mills have already been closed and warned that if urgent remedial measures were not taken, the whole textile industry could collapse. He called upon the government to ensure enforcement of zero-rating of sales tax for the textile industry. He further urged that the sales tax on packaging materials, spare parts, fuel and energy should be made simple for textile industry and refunded on priority basis. He said to turn around the falling exports, government should adopt a soft approach for the five export oriented sectors and spare them from new taxes.
 

Khalid Iqbal Malik said that government should also take necessary steps to save the domestic industry against large-scale import of textile products from neighboring countries. He said that textile industry has appealed for reduction of gas tariff from Rs.600 per MMBTU to Rs.400 per MMBTU and fixation of electricity tariff at Rs.7 per unit inclusive of all taxes, levies and surcharges. He stressed that government should give due consideration to this appeal for bringing down the cost of doing business for this industry.  He was of the view that addressing the issues of textile industry and reducing power tariffs for it would facilitate the revival of this important industry and contribute positively to promoting country’s exports.