October 21, 2016
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain has lauded the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for considering Rs200 billion package to revive and modernise the external sector.
The lion’s share of the package will go to the textile sector which is the largest foreign exchange earner and largest urban job providing sector that is widely dubbed as backbone of the economy, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the special package is being considered on the direction of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for introducing technological and infrastructural improvements to the external sector as exports are going down continuously.
The technological revival of the industry is being considered to help it compete with regional competitors, he said, adding that the process of revival of ailing textile sector and other export industries should be initiated as soon as possible.
Mian Zahid Hussain lauded the move of the government and demanded to finalise recommendations in this regard without any delay to revive the fourteen billion industry which was crumbling due to multiple reasons needing immediate government intervention.
The business leader said that energy crisis, cost of energy, incoherent policies, regional competition, undue taxation and issue of refunds etc. have taken toll on this industry providing jobs to 3.5 million people.
He said that cotton production continue to decline since few years due to apathy of authorities, substandard seeds, fake pesticides, droughts, floods, and erratic weather patterns which has damaged our cotton economy.
He demanded establishment of a company in the private sector which can take care of branding, packaging and pricing of the textile products to boost exports.
