Pakistan is eagerly awaiting Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit. Reason: He is to formally inaugurate several garment industry projects and joint ventures worth Rs 12 billion. Among these is an apparel park. The Chinese Ruyi group was set to install a denim mill of 100 million meters per day, a dying mill of 100 million meters per day besides launching a coal power plant of 150 mw in Faisalabad.
Pakistan’s garment industry feels if the visit doesn’t happen soon, and work doesn’t begin, orders will shift to Bangladesh, Myanmar and India. All these countries are interested in Chinese investment in their textile parks.
Another issue that’s plaguing Pakistan is energy supplies. Production activities have been badly affected and reduced to almost 60 per cent. A huge investment is needed to boost power generation.
The industry is facing prolonged delay in payment of refunds. Claims have accumulated into billion of rupees. Exporters’ money has been held up by the Ministry of Finance for the last several years and has now reached around Rs 25 billion against refund claims of duty drawback of local taxes and levies and sales tax. Due to these unreleased payments, exporters say they are facing an acute liquidity crunch.
