July 25, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 28, 1427

KARACHI, July 24: The Pakistan Cloth Merchants’ Association (PCMA) has criticised the government decision of not including commercial exporters of fabrics and home textiles in the relief package under which a subsidy for research and development (R&D) was allowed.

In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the PCMA has resented the recently announced textile package which allows the R&D subsidy to only those exporters who have their own processing, dyeing and printing units.

“Kindly note that patronizing 25 to 50 processing houses and excluding commercial exporters, who constitute about 80 to 90 per cent in export business of fabrics and home textiles, will badly hurt country’s exporters,” the PCMA observed in its letter to the prime minister.

The association appealed to the prime minister to treat all categories of textile exporters at par by allowing R&D benefits across the board in order to save commercial exporters and country’s exports.