KARACHI: Prominent figures from the industrial sector have raised concerns over the economic challenges brought forth by the caretaker government’s policies.

In a press statement issued on Wednesday, these industry leaders said the policies of the caretaker government, whose main responsibility was to organise elections, had brought in severe economic crises, the slowdown in industrial production and an alarming declining trend in exports.

Exorbitant increases in gas and power tariffs under IMF conditions and other costly industrial inputs owing to mammoth rupee-dollar parity and failure to provide a level playing field to compete globally had pushed the industries on the verge of closure, they said.

The joint statement was issued by Muhammad Jawed Bilwani, chief coordinator of the Value-Added Textile Forum and a former chairman of the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association; Mubashar Naseer Butt, chairman of the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association; Syed Usman Ali, senior vice chairman of Towel Manufacturers and Exporters Association; and Khalid Majeed, chairman of the Denim Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Aptma warns half of firms in textile, apparel sectors at high risk of closure

They pointed out that export-oriented industries had been facing the highest-ever cost of manufacturing in the country’s history, rendering the closure of many industries while other manufacturers feared a possible shutdown.

Aptma warns of closure

Meanwhile, the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) has warned that over 50 per cent of firms in the textile and apparel sectors are at high risk of shutting down over the coming weeks, causing widespread unemployment and social unrest if corrective action is not urgently taken.

The textile body on Wednesday asked caretaker Energy Minister Muhammad Ali to hold an urgent meeting with the textile stakeholders in view of the precarious situation of the industry in the coming months in the wake of unbearable high power and gas tariffs, maintaining the competitiveness of textile exports and averting the declining trend in the textile exports.

Aptma said the international competitiveness of textile and apparel exports was continuously being eroded by ever-increasing energy prices, which on average, were over twice that of regional competing countries.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2024