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WEEKLY
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| Govt fails to stem tide of factory closure: APTMA |
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Saturday, June 27, 2009
By our correspondent
LAHORE: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association Chairman Tariq Mehmood has warned that the current gloom in the industrial sector will turn into a disaster as the government has adopted a wrong path for revival of the industry.
Speaking at a press conference at APTMA’s Lahore office, he regretted that all the promises and assurances that Adviser to the Prime minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin had made to the textile millers during the past six months were ignored in the budget.
He said even the trade policy did not contain any provision to give a jump-start to the ailing industry. However, he said: “New textile policy is a good document but its results will be visible in the long term while the industries need immediate relief.” He said over 30 per cent of the spinning industry has closed down and with it the workforce has also been rendered jobless. He said entrepreneurs do not disclose the closure of the industry because they fear that creditors would hound them.
The APTMA chairman said the massive depreciation of the rupee trapped a number of APTMA members who had taken loans in dollars to avoid high interest rates. “Their liabilities jumped overnight by over 25 per cent due to the depreciation,” he added. He said 16 per cent sales tax has been imposed on spare parts of textile machinery with the plea that the millers could claim refund.
He said with other refunds still not cleared, the millers see no chance of getting refunds of sales tax paid on imports. He said turnover tax on the domestic industry has been re-imposed when every sector is posting losses. The plea that the tax would not be imposed on the loss-making industry is a farce as the depreciation of industries would not be considered as a loss.
Moreover the spinners demand that the mark-up charged from them should be the same as charged from other sub sectors of textile. He said power outages are more serious problem than the electricity tariff that is also very high.
APTMA Chairman Punjab Akber Sheikh said after study the ministry of textiles has found that the Chinese government is providing 17 per cent subsidy to its textile exporters, India provides 11 per cent subsidy while Pakistan only 2.5 per cent. He said with very high bank mark-up and double digit inflation Pakistani textiles need even higher subsidies just to do at a level playing field. He said APTMA has earmarked Rs20 million for the Swat affectees the sum would be distributed transparently. He said 10,000 dresses have been prepared by the APTMA that is being sent to refugee camps.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
