KARACHI - State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Arshad Wathra on Tuesday reiterated the government’s resolve to revive the textile industry and pledged unequivocal support for all the stakeholders.

While addressing the Senate Standing Committee meeting on Textile Industry held here at SBP office, he asked the representatives of the banking sector to play their due role in rehabilitating the textile industry by extending loans to the exporters.

He further said that it was a moral responsibility of the entire business community to bring back their foreign assets and liquidity so that the alarming situation of the textile industry might be ameliorated.

The meeting was held to highlight the problems duly faced by the textile industry in the country and proposals for its sustainability.

Senator Nihal Hashmi, one of the members of the committee, drew the attention of the members to the monopoly of private banks in terms of advancement of loans and urged that private banks should have been stringently regulated by the SBP. He further said that the government alone would not be able to bailout the textile industry; rather the private sector would also have to come forward and extend financial support to the textile industry.

Expressing the concerns of the banking sector, Nauman Dar, the representative of the Habib Bank of Pakistan, said that the textile industry would have to prove its competiveness if they seriously expect the banking sector to come for their rescue. He further said that the government would have to offer subsidies to the exporters. Expressing his optimism about the future and potential of the textile industry in Pakistan, he said that the textile industry in the country is not dead.

 He further justified his optimism by citing the names of leading textile groups who made their fortunes from the textile industry.

In his concluding remarks, Senator Mohsin Aziz, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on the Textile Industry, highlighted the significance of textile industry in the economic stability of a country and the role of banking sector in its sustainability. He said that a sustainable textile industry ensured employment and optimum benefit to agriculture sector of a country. Senators Nasreen Jaleel, Khushbakht Shujaat, Hari Ram, Saleem Mandviwala and representatives of the leading banks of the country also attended the meeting.