LAHORE: Provincial Minister for Excise and Taxation Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman has said that the Punjab government has collected $140 million from the Islamic Development Bank to provide interest-free loans to entrepreneurs in the carpet weaving industry.
The minister, while talking to delegations of carpet weavers and investors, said that these loans would be in addition to Rs3 billion in loans that had been issued to 168,000 entrepreneurs through the Punjab Small Industries Corporation during the current fiscal year. He said through such financial assistance the government aimed to help another 500,000 people enter the carpet weaving sector in the coming years.
Mujtaba said that the export of carpets is a lucrative source of foreign exchange earnings and the government is aware of the importance of the sector to the economy of the province. He said the government believed that an educated workforce was crucial for the growth of the sector.
