Call to continue exporters’ subsidy

LAHORE: Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMA) on Thursday urged the government to continue concessional power tariff for five export-oriented sectors, saying the subsidy had helped the sector to grow.

Any "imprudent" decision of the government to discontinue the subsidy given to the exporters would be disastrous for the sector, PHMA central chairman Shahzad Azam said.

He added that after concessional tariff, knitwear in textile group had achieved highest growth in exports, which was $3.8 billion in 2020-21 and touched $4.2 billion in 2021-22 (10 months) with an increase of 35 percent.

Azam urged the federal government to continue supporting the five export-oriented sectors for sake of economic stability, employment creation, and revenue generation.

He cautioned that any decision of discontinuation would leave a negative impact on exports, and would also impact the cost of manufacturing; resultantly exporters would suffer, he stated.