LAHORE - All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Ahsan Bashir has urged the central bank for provision of regionally competitive interest rate in the wake of improvement in economic indicators.

He has appreciated government for bringing inflation rate down to 8pc besides improvement in current account deficit. This vital sign of improvement in the economic indicators is a big achievement for government and should be reflected in upcoming monetary policy to reinforce government’s commitment of strengthening economy through investment-friendly measures, he added. He said it is imperative for the economic managers of the country to consider further reduction in the interest rate as a confidence building measure to encourage industrial investment in the country.
Chairman APTMA pointed out that textile industry in Pakistan has failed to undertake green field or BMR investment since 2006 due to high interest rates coupled with severe shortage of energy. The time has come to slash down interest rate at par with regional competitors for textile industry, he stressed.
Ahsan said a regionally competitive interest rate will attract investment in the textile industry, which is long overdue and will enable to narrow down the technological gap and create incremental capacities for generating exportable surplus. He said it is an opportune time for the industry to prepare itself for the potential benefits of the imminent market access from the European Union (EU), at zero tariff level on imports into EU from Jan 2014 onwards under GSP Plus.
According to him, the $18 billion textile industry of Pakistan is keenly looking forward to a competitive interest rate before undertaking productive investment in routine. It would also arrest the unemployment rate and provide stage for textile exports regaining momentum for take off.
 There exists surplus potential for textile industry to convert basic textile into value-added exports, provided conductive environment is made available, he added.