While the readymade garment exporters are already troubled as State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has withdrawn the three percent Research and Development (R&D) fund, goverenment officials are forcing them to contribute to the Prime Minister's Flood Relief Fund.
RMG industry's future seems to be in despair with the Ministry of Textile Industry being unconcerned, leaving the hapless garment producers/exporters uncertain of their prolonged survival. Severity of the situation could be traced from the fact that, where there were around 150 RMG units in Lahore in 2008 and now in 2010, just 67 of them are functional.
This is for the first time in the history of SBP that any facility such as R&D Fund has been withheld. Several letters were forwarded to the SBP and to federal government but to no avail, as the persons in charge at both the places believe that, as the government was facing financial crisis, it had no other alternative but to withhold the R&D fund.
The situation has created turmoil in the garment sector, with units closing, one after another, rendering thousands of workers unemployed.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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