June 10, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 05, 1429

FAISALABAD, June 9: The Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has demanded that the textile sector be exempted from power outages.

Talking to newsmen, PTEA chairman Tahir Ishaque said on Monday that the textile sector had been suffering owing to power failures, which was affecting productivity, and hurting exports as exporters are unable to fulfil their export orders as per their commitment with foreign buyers.

He urged that government to extend R&D facility to all exporters across the board instead of handpicked industrialists.

The volume-based support facility would create discrimination and result in decrease of exports, he said.

Multiple price-hikes in gas and electricity over the last years have increased manufacturing costs of exportable goods, throwing Pakistani exports out of world market, he stated.

He pleaded for uninterrupted gas and electricity supply and demanded new tariff for textile sector by these utilities.

He also demanded that the sector be exempted from taxes, levies and cross subsidies by zero-rating textile exports.

Mr Ishaque demanded that the R&D facility should not be withdrawn as it had greatly helped textile exports. The textile industry and exports would suffer, if this facility is withdrawn, he added.