The government would work with textile manufacturers to finalise a comprehensive long-term policy before next budget to address the woes of the industry, said Finance Adviser Shaukat Tarin on Saturday.
The incentive-laden textile policy aimed to point out weaknesses in the whole value-added chain to boost and explore new markets for exports, said the adviser who was flanked by State Bank Governor Salim Raza and Federal Textile Minister Rana Farooq here at a meeting with businessmen.
“We want to increase textile exports to $25 billion in the next five years,” he said about the target set in the policy draft, which has already been prepared. “It is achievable and we will go beyond that in a few years.”
He also announced that there would be no change in the zero-rated tax regime for the textile industry in the next budget.
Pakistan’s exports of textiles have dropped to $6.7bn between July-Feb 2008-09 from $6.89bn in the same period of the previous year despite a steep depreciation in the value of rupee against the dollar. Textile products like knitwear, cotton cloth and readymade garments account for over half of the country’s exports.
Textile-makers have been trying for long to attract government attention to falling numbers. They say cheaper products from countries like Bangladesh have eaten Pakistan’s share in international markets.
The high-profile Saturday visit by government officials to the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) office where representatives of almost all the sub-sectors of textile were present reflected the seriousness of the authorities to help the industry.
“Importance of textile industry to the economy cannot be undermined,” Tarin said, acknowledging that high interest rate had hampered industrial growth. “Now we intend to enter a growth phase and for that to happen we cannot ignore textile. What else have we got?”
He said the new policy would attempt to obtain maximum value from cotton produced in the country by increasing the share of garments in textile production. “It is a comprehensive strategy which will look into every area from ginning, spinning and all the way to garment.”
Interestingly, not a single businessman at the meeting mentioned the desire of some European Union countries to give Pakistani textile exports duty-free access.
However, the adviser did not mince words in saying Pakistani exporters should look east now. “Are we supposed to always export to the US and EU? There are many markets in our region.”
He also assured them that he would look into the issue of cross-subsidisation of gas tariff whereby industrial units are made to bear part of the cost of gas on behalf of fertiliser producers and domestic consumers.
Earlier, businessman Zubair Motiwala highlighted that competitors of Pakistani textile manufacturers had a cost advantage as they got cheaper electricity and gas.
The incentive-laden textile policy aimed to point out weaknesses in the whole value-added chain to boost and explore new markets for exports, said the adviser who was flanked by State Bank Governor Salim Raza and Federal Textile Minister Rana Farooq here at a meeting with businessmen.
“We want to increase textile exports to $25 billion in the next five years,” he said about the target set in the policy draft, which has already been prepared. “It is achievable and we will go beyond that in a few years.”
He also announced that there would be no change in the zero-rated tax regime for the textile industry in the next budget.
Pakistan’s exports of textiles have dropped to $6.7bn between July-Feb 2008-09 from $6.89bn in the same period of the previous year despite a steep depreciation in the value of rupee against the dollar. Textile products like knitwear, cotton cloth and readymade garments account for over half of the country’s exports.
Textile-makers have been trying for long to attract government attention to falling numbers. They say cheaper products from countries like Bangladesh have eaten Pakistan’s share in international markets.
The high-profile Saturday visit by government officials to the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) office where representatives of almost all the sub-sectors of textile were present reflected the seriousness of the authorities to help the industry.
“Importance of textile industry to the economy cannot be undermined,” Tarin said, acknowledging that high interest rate had hampered industrial growth. “Now we intend to enter a growth phase and for that to happen we cannot ignore textile. What else have we got?”
He said the new policy would attempt to obtain maximum value from cotton produced in the country by increasing the share of garments in textile production. “It is a comprehensive strategy which will look into every area from ginning, spinning and all the way to garment.”
Interestingly, not a single businessman at the meeting mentioned the desire of some European Union countries to give Pakistani textile exports duty-free access.
However, the adviser did not mince words in saying Pakistani exporters should look east now. “Are we supposed to always export to the US and EU? There are many markets in our region.”
He also assured them that he would look into the issue of cross-subsidisation of gas tariff whereby industrial units are made to bear part of the cost of gas on behalf of fertiliser producers and domestic consumers.
Earlier, businessman Zubair Motiwala highlighted that competitors of Pakistani textile manufacturers had a cost advantage as they got cheaper electricity and gas.
