No funds released under export package: APTMA

Amir Fayyaz said the government owed Rs30 billion to the textile industry

LAHORE: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Chairman Amir Fayyaz said on Wednesday that the government had failed to implement the Rs180 billion export package announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as the industry has yet to receive any funds.

Speaking at a press conference, Fayyaz said the government owed Rs30 billion to the textile industry. “While the prime minister assured us that the Rs180 billion package will be granted over the next 18 months with Rs10 billion per month, the government has already defaulted on payments worth Rs30 billion,” he said. The Aptma chairman decried the energy crisis in Punjab and the premium paid by textile units on electricity consumption.

“We are paying 30% more for electricity than competing exporters in the region, coupled with an almost double tariff on gas than other provinces,” he said, adding that it had made the industry uncompetitive.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2017.

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