LAHORE: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood on Thursday announced the release of an additional grant of Rs6.2 billion for the textile sector under the Drawback of Local Taxes and Levy (DLTL) scheme.
According to a press release, during the current fiscal year, a cumulative amount of Rs51.2 billion has been released under the DLTL scheme for the textile sector.
Razak Dawood said that he hopes that the additional grant will resolve liquidity issues of exporters and enable them to further enhance their exports.
The adviser to the prime minister on commerce and investment informed that work is also being done on a DLTL scheme for the non textile sector.
Earlier on Tuesday, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), in a letter to Abdul Razak Dawood, urged the government to help the textile industry boost its exports by extending competitively priced energy in the region, lowering sales tax and reducing turnover tax from 1.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent.
APTMA had also stated in its letter that the textile industry will try to achieve $17.5 billion exports for the next fiscal year, to help the country narrow down its widening trade deficit.
Similarly, on June 8, All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Sindh-Balochistan Chairman Zahid Mazhar had demanded the government to reduce the tariff of indigenous gas for five export-oriented sectors.
“The reduction should be announced in line with the major cut in international oil prices so that the negative impact of Covid-19 on the economy and exports could be managed effectively,” he had said in a statement issued on June 8.
Furthermore, on May 4, textile industry owners had informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) that they would not be able to pay their employees due to a liquidity crunch because of the suspension of economic activities caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
12 major textile industries had filed a petition in the court against the Sindh government’s order against laying off employees during the lockdown and the obligation on industry owners to pay their employees in full.
