5 million employees will lose jobs
All Pakistan Textile Mills Association on Wednesday decided to shut down textile mills across the country from Saturday.
“The textile mills of the country will also be shut down from Saturday. Sixteen hundred textile mills have already been closed down,” the APTMA said.
“Five million employees will lose their jobs and 30 million people will be affected due to the closure of textile industries,” it added.
“The government has withdrawn competitive power rates for textile industry. The closure of textile industry will deal a heavy blow to the domestic exports,” it stated.
“Increasing exports is very important and the only way-out for the economy of the country. The government must provide electricity and gas at competitive rates to textile industry. It should also ensure continuous power and gas supply to textile industry,” it demanded.
Meanwhile, oil imports went up by 27.82%, while natural gas production dropped by 6% in the fiscal year 2020-21, the annual report of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority shows.
According to the annual report, natural gas production dropped to 2006 mmcfd after a 6% drop in 2020-21. However, local refineries’ production went up by 14.48%, the report read.
