Karachi : Chairman of National Business Group of FPCCI, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said the former textile policy has expired two years ago while the new policy has been delayed by one tear which is disturbing investors.

The government should take all the stakeholders in confidence before announcing the new textile policy so that it can trigger growth in the largest export earning textile sector, he said. 

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the Textile Policy 2014-19 was a joke which stagnated the textile sector while the exports of some subsectors suffered therefore mistakes in the former policy should not be repeated. 

Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that the textile sector is the second largest employment provider which deserves the full attention of the policymakers. 

The draft textile policy 2020-25 is ready but it is not being approved which is causing anxiety. The textile sector was promised for provision of gas for $6.5 per mmbtu but the petroleum ministry is not willing. 

Similarly, the provision of electricity at the rate of 9 cents per unit was promised but it is difficult as the power tariff has seen an unprecedented increase, he said. 

Mian Zahid Hussain said that these issues can be resolved through subsidy but the problem of delayed payments should be resolved. 

Moreover, the subsidy will increase the infamous circular debt which is against the government’s policy of overcoming this menace. 

Government’s intention to reduce circular debt by hiking electricity tariff is against the interests of the masses and industrial sector which can be sorted out by cutting losses of Rs400 billion which include theft and line losses.