LAHORE: The representative of textile millers has warned that the textile exports may decline to $4 billion a year as foreign trading was dropped by 17 per cent in July.
All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Chairman SM Tanveer, addressing a press conference, said that the association had been warning the government of such an eventuality.
“The government is finally taking the textile sector into confidence and has promised to remove the bottlenecks in the way of exports. The federal finance minister and the commerce minister have acknowledged the Aptma’s stance and Haroon Akhtar, Adviser to the PM on Finance, had comprehensive discussions with the association’s leadership.
Under what he said was an irrational taxation regime, Tanveer believed that the exporters would continue to suffer. He said Aptma deferred its August 7 strike for one month following the assurance from Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that their problems would be addressed within a month.
Tanveer pointed out that the rupee was overvalued and the industry was burdened with additional taxes of Rs172 billion this year and both had eroded its competitiveness.
