Our Correspondent Faisalabad
Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries, Production and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood said that small and medium enterprises (SME) sector was contributing 95 percent share to the national economy and the government was fully cognizant of their importance and trying to resolve their issues on top priority basis.
Addressing a meeting of All Pakistan Bed-sheets & Upholstery Manufacturers Association (APBUMA), he said the economy had been stabi-lized and now a new target for exports would be fixed after Eidul Azha during a meeting of stake-holders with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He said the government was already providing facilities to SME sector. He said that most of the raw material consume by the SME sector had been zero-rated.
The remaining taxes and duties would also be with-drawn so that SME sector could fully exploit its potential and give a quantum jump to national ex-ports, he said.
About DLTL (Duty Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies), Razak Dawood said the finance minis-try had earmarked Rs 20 billion, out of which Rs 8 billion had already been disbursed among the ex-porters.
He underlined the importance of cotton which was raw material for entire textile chain and said we have to take proactive measures to enhance cotton production.
He mentioned different options to increase cot-ton yield but added that well-considered policies should be framed to avoid any backlash from any sector.
He said that most of duties on raw material had already been withdrawn while steps were un-derway to withdraw any remaining duties or taxes to ensure adequate supply of polyester in the domestic market.
The Advisor urged the APBUMA members to explore new markets for exports and said that they should come up with tangible proposals during their meeting with prime minister immediately after Eid.
He was also appreciative of the role of APBUMA in organizing SME sector and said that no doubt it was one of the biggest elected trade bodies of SME sec-tor which was contributing in a big way in national exports.
