Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) Central Chairman Shaikh Mohammad Shafiq said in a statement on Wednesday that textile exports went down by $1 billion during the last financial year due to massive decline in cotton crop production.
He said the imports increased by 6% in July 2016 and as a result the government could not achieve the exports target during the last fiscal year due to decline in textile exports. Poor policies of the incumbent government had brought Pakistan’s most valuable sector on the verge of collapse.
He said the export of readymade garments, however showed a positive sign as it rose to $2.196 billion in July-June (FY 16) from $2.095 billion during the same period of 2014-15 thus showing an increase of 4.83 per cent.
He further said that the value added industry is already suffering from low productivity due to shortage of cotton, high energy cost, and discriminatory import duties on the industry’s raw material.
He said regional comparison of cost of doing business shows that Pakistan’s wages, interest rates, electricity, gas and water tariff are a lot higher and have created hurdles for smooth business.
In the recently announced budget for 2016-17, the Finance Ministry gave some incentives of rebate and zero-rated sales tax to top five important textile sectors to enhance their exports in the next two years.
