Minister for Commerce and Textile has convened an inter-ministerial meeting on Tuesday (today) to finalise recommendations and decide a "practicable" package for the textile sector, official sources told Business Recorder. The package will be presented to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi who has also convened a meeting of businessmen on Tuesday (today). The Ministry of Commerce and Textile has asked the secretaries of the Finance, Textile Division, Petroleum Division, Power Division, Revenue Division and Governor State Bank of Pakistan to personally attend the meeting.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had held meetings with Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) on October 12 and October 13, 2013 respectively and discussed multitude of issues being faced by the exporters and facilitations provided by the government.

The prime minister, sources said, desired that Ministry of Commerce & Textile in consultation with textile associations may come up recommendations in order of preference, to facilitate long-term export growth. Textile associations were requested to provide medium to long term recommendations, especially for cost of doing business, to create level-playing field for textile manufacturers and exporters vis-à-vis competitor countries.

During the 7th meeting of Federal Textile Board held on November 4, 2017 under the chairmanship of Minister for Commerce and Textile, draft recommendations were discussed in detail and after due deliberation it was decided to forward these recommendations to the prime minister .

The key issues which are being raised by the textile sector are: (i) energy affordability; (ii) Sales Tax Refunds; (iii) judicious settlement of GIDC; (iv) zero rating of packing material; (v) raw material affordability; (vi) power loom sector; (vii) and timely payments of rebates.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017