APTMA to place demands before PM today
11 July, 2012
ISLAMABAD: A high-level 16-member delegation of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) to place it's charter of demands before Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Wednesday and will urge upon the government to direct the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for industry-specific interventions, including regionally competitive interest rate, to generate growth and employment in the country.
ISLAMABAD: A high-level 16-member delegation of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) to place it's charter of demands before Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Wednesday and will urge upon the government to direct the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for industry-specific interventions, including regionally competitive interest rate, to generate growth and employment in the country.
APTMA delegation will place its demands through a detailed presentation on the way forward for textile industry. APTMA delegation will brief the PM about fast eroding competitiveness of textile industry in the region due to short supplies of electricity and gas.
Spokesman APTMA said the delegation would apprise the Premier of the fact both the investment and industry viability are at stake in the absence of an immediate balancing, modernisation and replacement (BMR) worth $5 billion in next three years to maintain $15 billion production capacity.
The delegation will also urge upon the PM to direct the SBP for industry-specific interventions, including regionally competitive interest rate, to generate growth and employment in the country. The loans of textile industry have touched the lowest level of seven percent-Rs 7 trillion, amounting to Rs 500 billion mainly due to energy crisis.
The Non Performing Loans (NPL) are set to reach 50 percent of the total loans and industry is unable to perform on 12 percent interest rate and 7 percent bank spread in a situation when 40 percent capacity is down due to energy shortage. India is offering loans to its industries on 3.5 percent, which is needed to be followed in Pakistan, he added.
The APTMA delegation will question the rationale of Rs 100 per MMCFD Gas Infrastructure Development Surcharge on industry, thus enforcing a tax of Rs 24 billion per annum without sharing the infrastructure projects and their mechanism with the industry.
He said the APTMA way forward consists of offering partnership under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for erecting Liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal without seeking any sovereign guarantee from the government.
Besides, a submission will also be made to the Prime Minister to ensure expeditious implementation of the surcharge of Rs 24 billion collected under the development of gas infrastructure in the country, including LNG, IP, and TAPI gas import projects, he added.
APTMA will also demand exemption from load shedding for textile industry on independent feeders and winter strategy for textile industry on gas allocation.
APTMA will also raise concerns over imminent floods ahead and urge upon the government to introduce Crop Insurance Scheme for farmers, as a proposal is already put forward by APTMA in this regard.
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