Govt fails to boost industrial investment

Published October 9, 2007

KARACHI, Oct 8: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Tanvir Ahmad Sheikh has blamed government for failing to play its part to supplement the efforts of private sector in boosting industrial investment.

“Industrialists invested their funds in textile sector according to the targets determined in the “Textile Vision 2005,” he bluntly told Mr Mushtaq Malik, the Secretary of Board of Investment (BoI) during a meeting and reminded that it was the government that failed to provide textile industry with required quantity of cotton.

A press release issued by the FPCCI on Monday quoted the FPCCI president as saying that the government’s inability to grow targeted quantity of cotton had kept textile industry starved and under utilisation of production capacities had seriously impaired its profitability.

Tanvir’s prescription was to allow import of Indian cotton via Wagah to meet the growing demand of cotton of domestic textile industry.

He informed the BoI Secretary that a FPCCI delegation would attend the forthcoming ECO meeting at Istanbul and would make a presentation on investment opportunities in Pakistan.

The BoI Secretary informed that inflow of foreign investment swelled to $1.9 billion from $350 million five years ago in face of serious political issues and challenges of law and order in the country. It was because of the sound economic policies and stability.