Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has issued directives for immediate restoration of gas supply to textile units and ordered officials concerned to ensure gas supply to the units during the winter season for optimum production, Pakistani newspapers have reported. At s a review meeting on supply of gas to textile export units, Dar said that the smooth provision of gas would help the textile exporters keep their production units fully functional during the remaining months of winter. He said textile exports were a major source of foreign exchange earnings for the country and the government would facilitate the industry in every possible manner. The meeting was attended by the representatives of textile industry, senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL). “This is a positive decision of the government to provide gas supply to the textile units in winter season, as this would save the jobs of thousands of workers,” said an official of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA). “We hope that government would also resolve other issues faced by the textile sector including tax refunds and higher power tariff, which are hurdle in increasing the exports.” More than 400 of spinning, weaving and processing were being supplied gas just for four hours a day in November, which had been halted completely in December. The APTMA had protested over the government’s decision to suspend gas supply to textile units, pointing out that textile exports would further decline due to closure of gas. Pakistan’s textile exports have been declining over the last few months due to the internal as well external factors. The latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed that Pakistan’s textile exports went down by 14.6 per cent to $961 million in November 2015 from $1.13 billion of the same month last year. The country’s textile exports stood at $5.2 billion during first five months (July-November) of the ongoing fiscal year as against $5.7 billion of the same period of last year, showing a decline of 8.4 per cent.
