Problems of export industry should be resolved.

FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel SVP, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said the export industry of Sialkot should be bailed out as it is facing serious issues.

The foreign buyers have stopped payments while the refunds are stuck which have resulted in serious liquidity crunch for a number of industries including apparel, sports goods, gloves, surgical instruments, leather garments, and hosiery industry, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that the exports from Sialkot can drop by almost one billion dollars if the problems were ignored by the authorities.

Talking to the exporters from Sialkot, the veteran business leader said that government should save hundreds of small and medium industrial units from closure and thousands from unemployment by restoring zero-rating facility for the above-mentioned sectors.

The former minister noted that exports and remittances are already declining therefore the matters contributing to further drop should be taken seriously otherwise the government will miss the export target of 25 billion dollars with a wide margin.

He warned that the exports from Sialkot can fall by over 35 percent as foreign buyers have not paid for the merchandise shipped during the months of January, February and March.

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Presently, the export industry is facing hardships in paying utility bills and salaries which should be supported to remain afloat.

Discontinuation of the zero-rating facility has only contributed to problems, liquidity issues and corruption, therefore the decision should be reversed in the national interest as no one will be interested in establishing new industrial units while the existence of the running units is at stake, he said.