The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) has urged the Government to slash power and gas tariffs for the textile industry.
At a meeting held recently in Karachi, Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, Vice President of FPCCI asked Finance Minister of Pakistan Ishaq Dar and Secretary of Textile Industry Ministry Hassan Iqbal to ensure that necessary steps are taken to reduce the power rates for the betterment of the textile sector.
Saquib underlined that as Pakistan textile industry has to pay PKR 3.63 per kWh surcharge on electricity and Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC), it does not bring the nation anywhere near to being globally competitive.
At present, the gas tariff is US $ 7.65 per unit in Pakistan, which is significantly higher than that of India (US $ 4.5 per unit), Vietnam (US $ 4.2 per unit) and Bangladesh (US $ 3.1 per unit).
According to Former Vice President of FPCCI, Waseem Vohra, higher power tariff has been instrumental in the declining textile exports from Pakistan. The overall production cost goes up with higher tariffs and thus reduces the output.
At the meeting, Saquib also urged the Government to allow import of textile machinery spare parts at zero per cent rate. This will further support the textile manufacturers of the country.