Govt decision to lower power tariff for apparel sector lauded.

ISLAMABAD -- The Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMA) and the Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) on Thursday lauded the government's decision to supply electricity to the exports sector at 7.5 cents per kWh and gas at $6.5 per mmbtu up to June 30. The association office-bearers said the decision would prove to be a sigh of relief for exports sector. At a joint meeting that attended by a large number of exporters, PHMA Vice Chairman Shafiq Ahmad Butt and PRGMEA Chairman Sohail Afzal expressed satisfaction over the decision. They, however, called for ease-of-doing-business, decrease in cost of production, solution to liquidity crunch through early refunds payment, long term and consistent energy tariff policy and relaxed import policy for industrial raw materials, so that industrialization could be boosted and exports could be enhanced.

Addressing the meeting, PHMA's Shafiq Butt said the apparel sector was performing well through an increase in exports and should be encouraged through making it truly zero-rated for its whole value chain. Regarding EODB, he added various provincial departments including Employees' Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI)...