LAHORE, June 23: Bank loans to the tune of Rs100 billion are feared to get stuck with the closure of around 200 spinning units in the country in the near future if the basic textile industry is not given the much- needed help to reduce its cost of production immediately.

This was stated by All Pakistan Textile Association (APTA) Chairman Adil Mahmood at a press conference on Saturday, a day after staging the first of its kind protest by the textile millers outside the parliament in Islamabad.

He said that at least 200 spinning units were on the verge of closure due to heavy cost of production and 50 per cent loans would be washed away forthwith if this actually happens. “At least 20 per cent loans of spinning units have already turned into non-performing loans because of the current crisis facing the industry,” he claimed.

He said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had assured him of resolving the industry’s issues next week. He said he was called for a meeting with the prime minister during the spinners’ protest outside the parliament.

But, he said, the prime minister made it clear that no relief would be offered on the utility costs though the government was prepared to consider the spinners’ demands for 5 per cent Research & Development (R&D) facility and reduction in the interest rate up to 7.5 per cent on all long and short-term outstanding liabilities of the spinners.

He said the Apta had urged the prime minister to at least allow the yarn producers an “honourable exit” if the government could not help it financially.

Mr Mahmood said President Pervez Musharraf had also favoured immediate relief to the spinning industry, adding that the president has reportedly directed the government to provide relief sooner than later.

He also sought to link the crisis in the textile industry to the fall of governments in the past. He said the governments of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto in the 1990s fell as a direct outcome of the then crisis in the textile sector.