Pakistan's textile production sees drop due to energy crisis

ISLAMABAD: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) has apprised Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif of drop in production, citing energy crisis including ‘expensive’ electricity and gas with a 20 percent interest rate, ARY News reported.

APTMA Patron in Chief, Gohar Ijaz penned down a letter to PM Shehbaz Sharif, stating that the textile industry was facing difficulties in production due to the extremely expensive electricity and gas with a 20 percent interest rate.

The letter stated that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was not opening the letter of credit (LCs) for the import of essential raw materials, which is causing difficulties in textile production.

Gohar Ijaz expressed concern over the textile industry revenue and stated that the textile exports were expected to decrease by $3 billion this year as 50 percent of the textile industry has been shut down due to a severe economic crisis.

“Due to continuous increase in production cost, Pakistan cannot compete with other countries,” Ijaz said, urging the prime minister to take notice of the deteriorating condition of the textile industries.

READ: ‘POWER BLACKOUT FORCES SHUTDOWN OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN PUNJAB’

Earlier in the day, the federal government jacked up power tariffs for the export industry by Rs 12.13 per unit.

As per details, the increase in power tariff is made to implement the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions.

The government also has ended the subsidy on power for the export industry.

The power supply to the export industry at Rs 19.99 per unit has been withdrawn and the notification will be effective from today.

The power division has written a letter to K-electric and all the power distributing companies for the implementation of this decision.