The President National Bank of Pakistan, Arif Usmani has said that National Bank will keep playing its vital role in strengthening the economy by supporting trade and industry through comprehensive financing as economic growth is key to generate employment opportunities, counter the inflation and bring economic prosperity.
Addressing the exporters at Pakistan Textile Exporters Association here on Tuesday, National Bank president termed textile exporters as invaluable asset of the country. He said that no meaningful economic development is possible without enterprise and co-operation of exporters. NBP has always been supporting the business and will continue the same spirit. NBP is ready to invest in textile industry being largest employment providing and revenue generating sector. He expressed the hope that with support of masses, Pakistan will overcome the economic challenges and all resources will be mobilized for converting Pakistan according to the Premier's vision of economically stable and strong Pakistan.
Earlier, Chairman PTEA Khurram Mukhtar welcoming the President National Bank appreciated the Government's growth-led measures for restoring the confidence of the businessmen and investors to steam up the export growth. He said that war against terrorism and extremism badly effected textile industry. Now the situation has become better and trade and business activities are boosting, he added. He acknowledged the initiative of the present Government to settle the long outstanding issues of textile export industry.
Highlighting key initiatives, he said that Government have released various refunds of Rs35 billion in current financial year; whereas another Rs12 billion have also been released and disbursement will start by SBP by the end of this month. In order to cut down the production cost of export items, special energy tariff for Zero rated sectors have also been announced. He urged to continue the same spirit and momentum as any disruption would cause to shatter all the efforts. He said that global opportunities are knocking the doors; we just need to get benefit from these emerging opportunities. He urged the Government to set a road map to generate robust economic activity, increase exports up to US $30 billion and fulfill the Premier's vision of economic prosperity through exports. Textile export industry particularly in Punjab have the infrastructure, potential and opportunities to increase exports by US $2 billion and generate 100,000 new jobs in next two years if an enabling environment is provided, he said. He underlined the need for serious and well-planned efforts for increase in value-addition especially in textile sector for capturing more share in the regional and international markets.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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