LAHORE: Chairman APTMA North Zone Kamran Arshad has welcomed the federal government decision of gas tariff rationalization, saying that it would be helpful in boosting the textile industry exports by $600 million per month.

The APTMA North is grateful to the decision of the federal government and appreciates the sincere efforts of Federal government, Caretaker Commerce Minister Dr Gohar Ejaz and Caretaker Energy Minister Mohammad Ali for reducing the tariff gap and enabling the textile industry to compete in the international marketplace. He was accompanied by Senior Vice Chairman Asad Shafi and former Chairman Abdul Rahim Nasir.

He said it has been a longstanding demand of the textile industry to rationalize the gas tariff and reduce the disparity gap for the mills in Punjab comparing with those in other provinces. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has taken a step in the right direction by introducing two gas tariffs for the mills in Punjab and Sindh provinces where the expansion drive was hit hard due to the RLNG rate difference in two provinces respectively, he added.

“The earlier tariff gap of $4 would now reduce to $1.5 for the mills in two provinces after the government notifies the tariff.” Already, he said, the textile exports have started showing positive signs, as the exports have grown by 5% from the month of October 2023 due to the reforms including action against the currency smuggling and the Afghan Transit Trade. Other allied Associations of APTMA are also grateful to the government for substantially reducing the tariff gap in the country, he stressed.

Speaking on the occasion, former Chairman Rahim Nasir said the gas tariff disparity was confusing our international customers and the availability of two, instead of the earlier three, tariffs would have positive impact in the long term. He suggested the government to take a similar decision in the case if electricity tariff by withdrawing cross subsidy on the industry to boost exports further.

Senior Vice Chairman Asad Shafi said the textile exports can enhance by another $300 million per month with the elimination of cross subsidy on the industry. He said the APTMA North Zone fully supports the Federal government for its initiative to rationalize the long-awaited gas tariff and hoped that the new tariff would be notified soon.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023