LAHORE: Textile minister Abbas Khan Afridi will meet Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to discuss for removal of obstacles in the approval of the second five-year textile policy (2014-19).
The textile industry leaders already dismayed by the inordinate delay in the approval of the policy drafted eight months ago are not much hopeful about the outcome of the meeting.
Many say the government is delaying implementation of the policy because of its fiscal problems. “Since the implementation of the policy will require the cash-strapped government to immediately settle outstanding export refund claims of Rs22bn, it is trying to delay its implementation on one pretext or the other,” a garments exporter said.
The Rs88 billion draft textile policy promises settlement of outstanding refund claims of exporters, procedural improvements in refund regime, drawback of the local taxes on 10pc increase in annual exports, establishment of an Exim bank, duty free import of machinery and subsidised export refinance.
The government had announced these measures in the budget for the present fiscal. But none of these has so far been implemented because of the delay in the approval of the new textile policy, targeting to double the textile exports to $26bn in five years.
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