‘High profits encourage textile industry to shift to Bangladesh’
‘EU and other major markets give preferential treatment to Dhaka industry’.
MUZAFFARGARH:
The main reasons behind the shifting of textile industry to Bangladesh are not electricity and gas outages and power tariffs in Pakistan, but the preferential treatment of Dhaka in the European Union and the United States, says Textile Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin.
“Bangladesh is a privileged country as it has been counted among least developed nations by the EU and US. It has been given facilities and its textile sector has been sponsored and supported financially by the big economic powers,” said Shahabuddin while talking to the media about the condition of Pakistan’s textile sector here on Monday.
“This is the reason for shifting the textile industry from Pakistan to Bangladesh,” he said, adding businessmen were able to capitalise on this advantage.
According to the minister, more than 40% of the textile industry and around 200,000 power looms have been shifted to Bangladesh in the last five years, causing employment problems. In southern Punjab, more than 60,000 families, who were dependent on daily wages, are finding it difficult to make both ends meet due to job losses. In the whole Punjab, 200,000 families have been directly and indirectly affected.
Defending the tariffs and electricity and gas outages, he said the government was not charging extraordinary tariffs while energy shortage was not restricted to Pakistan. “This is a major challenge as well for the industrial sector in Southeast Asia.”
He said load-shedding would be minimised this year and subsequently power tariffs would be brought down according to the demand in the country.
He said the government would create a tax-free zone for the textile sector in southern Punjab, which is considered a hub of textile industry.
The minister said the government was taking all steps to attract foreign investment and improve the economy, which would solve the problem of unemployment.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2012
The main reasons behind the shifting of textile industry to Bangladesh are not electricity and gas outages and power tariffs in Pakistan, but the preferential treatment of Dhaka in the European Union and the United States, says Textile Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin.
“Bangladesh is a privileged country as it has been counted among least developed nations by the EU and US. It has been given facilities and its textile sector has been sponsored and supported financially by the big economic powers,” said Shahabuddin while talking to the media about the condition of Pakistan’s textile sector here on Monday.
“This is the reason for shifting the textile industry from Pakistan to Bangladesh,” he said, adding businessmen were able to capitalise on this advantage.
According to the minister, more than 40% of the textile industry and around 200,000 power looms have been shifted to Bangladesh in the last five years, causing employment problems. In southern Punjab, more than 60,000 families, who were dependent on daily wages, are finding it difficult to make both ends meet due to job losses. In the whole Punjab, 200,000 families have been directly and indirectly affected.
Defending the tariffs and electricity and gas outages, he said the government was not charging extraordinary tariffs while energy shortage was not restricted to Pakistan. “This is a major challenge as well for the industrial sector in Southeast Asia.”
He said load-shedding would be minimised this year and subsequently power tariffs would be brought down according to the demand in the country.
He said the government would create a tax-free zone for the textile sector in southern Punjab, which is considered a hub of textile industry.
The minister said the government was taking all steps to attract foreign investment and improve the economy, which would solve the problem of unemployment.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2012