Crumbling fourteen billion dollar industry needs immediate intervention

Lahore: Fourteen billion dollar textile industry playing critical role in the national economy is crumbling due to multiple reasons which need immediate government intervention, a business leader said Friday.

Energy crisis, incoherent policies, regional competition, undue taxation etc. have taken toll on this industry providing jobs to 3.5 million people, said President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain.

Talking to a delegation of textile mill owners, he said that 57 percent exports are linked to textile industry, its share in manufacturing is 46 percent while it employs 38 percent of the urban labour.

The share of textile in the GDP is nine percent which will shrink creating problems for everyone including tens of millions of farmers depending on cotton crop.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that other countries are providing subsidies to their textile sector and frequently devalue currency to get a foothold in international market which has left local sector unattractive for investors.

Government should review exchange policy, monetary policy and refund mechanism as textile sector is awaiting refunds worth one trillion and ten billion rupees since long resulting in severe liquidity problems.

Around thirty three percent textile mills have been closed depriving one million people of their jobs and if the situation remained unchanged more bad news will follow, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain also called for preferring exports of value added items like fibre and cloth over cotton to generate extra foreign exchange which is only possible when rates of energy and water for this critical sector are reviewed.

He also demanded to empower textile ministry to take all the decisions regarding this sector without interference of other ministries.