Exports threatened: APTMA fears $4 billion decline in exports

Overvalued rupee and taxes are to blame, says chairman.

LAHORE: The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) has expressed concern over the 17% decline in exports for July and warned that if the trend is not reversed it may lead to a yearly decline of $4 billion.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Aptma Chairman SM Tanveer said 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.

He 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.

“The government has the option to either devalue the rupee by 12% to 15% or remove the additional taxes on export industries to make them zero-rated.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th,  2015.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.