ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet has delayed the approval of Textile and Apparel policy 2020-25.
The ECC held a meeting under Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin have discussed the range of issues regarding the approval of the new policy of Textile and Apparel policy. The committee deferred the approval of policy for the fifth time.
The ECC constituted a sub-committee comprising of representatives of Ministry of Commerce, Finance Division, Ministry of Industries and Production, Power and Petroleum Divisions, FBR and State Bank of Pakistan to review and present an updated policy before ECC in a couple of weeks.
The committee failed to reach an agreement on the subsidies of gas and electricity. Tarin showed dissatisfaction over the proposed export target of $20billion for the textile sector for the current fiscal year and $25 billion for the next fiscal year.
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The ECC was unable to build consensus on approval due to objections made by Energy Minister Hammad Azhar and Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin. The government wanted to extend fiscal incentives of Rs838 billion for five years but the number would change after the Ministry of Commerce proposed regionally competitive energy prices.
Moreover, ECC approved the provision of gas to Pak Arab (58MMCFD) and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (63MMCFD) to ensure that the estimated demand for urea is met through domestic production which according to Finance Minster will stabilize the prices and supply of urea throughout the country during the Rabi season.
The ECC also approved a summary presented by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication regarding allocation of Rs2 billion for Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), an apex government body, mandated to strengthen and promote the IT sector exports of Pakistan.
It also approved the allocation of Rs4 billion to PSEB for disbursement of cash reward incentive in order to incentivize IT exports and to encourage documentation of exporters/exports.
The cash reward incentive would be provided for the IT and IT-enabled services exporters promoting export proceeds through banking channels via SBP allocated banking codes.
