Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has urged the government to ease financial stress as 25 to 30 percent working capital has been stuck up in various refund regimes. Textile industry is the only hope for revival of country's economy which is currently jolted by high cost of doing business. The government should provide level-playing field to double its existing share in global textile trade.
Talking to newsmen after chairing an emergent meeting of textile exporters here on Tuesday, PTEA Chairman Sheikh Ilyas Mahmood pinpointed the various bottlenecks plaguing textile exports and said that most ticklish issues are severe liquidity crunch as billions of rupees of textile exporters are stuck up in various refund regimes. Finance is imperative to run the wheel of industry but without this, no one could even think to run industry, he added. GSP plus facility has brought the hope of a significant jump in textile exports but lack of necessary funds is hurting the outcomes of this duty waiver relief. Terming rising cost of production another major hurdle in export promotion, he said that prices of raw materials and inputs have sky rocketed making our products uncompetitive in international market. Textile industry in Punjab is facing the issue of competitiveness not only with rival countries but also within the country.
Ahmad Kamal, former Chairman PTEA said that GSP plus trade incentives had opened a big window of opportunity for Pakistan to not only push its textile exports to the world but also produce a trade surplus to help the government overcome its current account woes. Giving example, he said that Bangladesh has increased its textile exports from $5 billion to almost $27 billion in last eight years after obtaining free market access to EU and is aiming for $40 billion in next few years.
Azhar Majeed, former Chairman PTEA pointed out that regional countries are providing a lot of subsidies and incentives to its textile sector to remain competitive in international market. Recently, India in a bid to give stiff competition to Pakistan, has flexed its muscles by proposing huge subsidies to its textile exporters and announce seven percent relief to its textile exporters for EU and US markets. Indian textile exporters will have two percent tax relief under Duty Credit Scrip to land their goods in EU and US markets with an increase of five percent in rebate, cumulatively a seven percent relaxation.
Rana Arif Touseef, former Chairman PTEA added that incentives under Technology Upgradation fund Scheme, Focus market scheme and Interest Subvention Scheme are available to Indian textile exporters. Various Indian states are also providing additional incentives (subsidies) to attract investment in their state. Regional rivals are also getting not only constant supply of gas and electricity but also on cheep rate.
Source:- brecorder.com
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