Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMA) has expressed concern over the decline in textile exports, which dropped by 1.34% year-on-year to $5.941 billion in the first four months (Jul-Oct) of current fiscal year.
In a statement, PHMA North Zone Chairman Naseer Butt underlined the need for continuing the Duty Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL) scheme to ensure export growth, besides releasing the stuck drawback claims of 2019-20.
The DLTL scheme proved to be a lifeline for the value-added textile industry, resulting in a high growth in knitwear exports in the previous fiscal year, said the PHMA leader. “A halt to the scheme will promote exports of raw material without value addition.”
He highlighted that the previous government had committed to continuing the scheme but could not fulfill its promise and similarly the present government failed to re-launch the fruitful scheme.
He emphasised the need for taking solid steps and ensuring consistency in policies to arrest the decline in exports.
“The knitwear industry is highly labour-intensive and the emerging textile economies like Bangladesh and Vietnam have registered a stellar growth by simply supporting this industry,” remarked the PHMA leader.
He suggested that the value-added textile exports should go up to get rid of the external debt and dictates of the IMF and other international financial institutions.
He was of the view that the value-added textile sector was not only a source of foreign exchange for the country but also employed millions of people.
He called for maintaining the electricity and gas prices for the textile industry over the next year to sustain export growth. “The government should continue the regionally competitive power tariff for the export-oriented sector to help lift exports,” he said.
“These rates should continue till at least FY23 to ensure sustainability as the textile sector contributes significantly to the national exports,” he said. “If the sector gets no relief, it will ultimately impact the overall economy.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2022.
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