Finance Minister backs textile industry's push for growth oriented Budget

May 12, 2026 (MLN): Pakistan's textile and apparel industry has presented a comprehensive set of proposals for the Federal Budget 2026–27, calling for sweeping reforms in taxation, energy pricing, export facilitation, liquidity management and industrial modernization to strengthen the sector's global competitiveness and long-term growth.

Industry stakeholders stressed that timely policy support, efficient refund mechanisms, rationalized energy costs and reduced compliance burdens would boost export performance, attract fresh investment, promote value-added manufacturing and generate employment across the wider economy.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb met a high-level delegation of leading chambers, associations and exporters from across the country to receive the textile sector's unified budget recommendations, according to a press release issued.

The Finance Minister reaffirmed the government's commitment to sustained, year-round consultations with the business community through the Ministry of Finance's dedicated Tax Policy Office, moving beyond the practice of engaging stakeholders only in the months preceding the budget.

He also briefed the delegation on the government's digital monitoring initiative already rolled out across the sugar, cement, beverages and tobacco sectors, and invited the textile industry to cooperate in extending similar mechanisms to their sector, an effort some associations and industrial units have already begun engaging with FBR teams on.

The meeting was attended by Khurram Mukhtar, Javed Bilwani, Fawad Anwar, Rehman Naseem, Shahzad Asghar, Amer Abdullah, Kamran Arshad, Shahzad Saleem, Sohail Pasha and Khawaja Masood, with the joint presentation submitted by APTMA, PTEA, PHMA, PTC, PRGMEA, APBUMA, TMA, PDMEA, PBEA and PAKSEA.

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