June 13, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 08, 1429

KARACHI, June 12: The Pakistan Leather Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Plgmea) chairman Fawad Ijaz Khan has urged the business community to hold a long march on June 18 if the government fails to withdraw 35 per cent LC margin on import of raw material.

He said that the industry is running out of all sorts of raw material because they had been expecting that the government would announce remove LC margin in the new budget but this did not materialise.

Mr Khan said that he had suggested to the FPCCI president to give June 16 deadline to the government for removal of LC margin on import of raw material and in case it was not done, the business community should also hold a long march from Sialkot to Islamabad.

The Plgmea chief said that in a meeting held on May 30, with State Bank governor Dr Shamshad Akhtar, an assurance was given for removal of LC margin on import of industrial raw material and keep it on luxury items, such as cars, mobile phones, etc.

Similarly, he said that the finance minister had also given a similar assurance.

Mr Fawad said our world suppliers have started cancelling orders and have started diverting them to other countries because the industry could not afford to pay huge amount of 35 per cent LC margin on import.

He cautioned that if there is no change, the industry would come to a grinding halt by the month of August because all our stocks will exhaust by that time.