In a scathing criticism on the annual performance of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), exporters have said that the export promotion agency has fallen to an event management company under its incumbent Chief Executive SM Muneer.
Talking to media on Friday, FPCCI former VP Riaz Khattak said TDAP has lost its relevance, as it was not facilitating exports. TDAP, during the last few years, has turned into an event management company from being an export promotion agency.
He said TDAP has failed to deliver according to its mandate mainly because of wrong priorities and changing export patterns over the years. Even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is not satisfied with the performance of TDAP CEO. Before announcing exporters incentives package for textile last month, PM showed displeasure to TDAP CEO on declining the exports in three years.
Official data showed the government allocated Rs 1.1 billion for TDAP in 2015-16. About Rs 750 million, or 68 per cent of the total budget, was spent on salaries and managing the offices of TDAP. The operational budget for the export promotion was just Rs 350 million, or 32 per cent of the total budget, in the last fiscal year.
The breakup of the development budget reveals that Rs 315 million, which is 90 per cent of the development expenditure, was spent on holding more than 115 exhibitions abroad in the last fiscal year. Only Rs 35 million, or 10 per cent of the total development budget, was spent on export promotion functions in the domestic market. The uneven allocation of the development budget for external and internal markets has created a vested interest for employees, Khattak said.
TDAP has more than 1,000 employees. Only 50 of them are directly involved in holding exhibitions abroad. This means 90 per cent of the development budget is spent through only 5 per cent of employees. “This is why most employees in TDAP try to become part of the exhibition department”, Khattak added.
Additionally, the authority spent Rs 650m from the Export Development Fund (EDF) on three exhibitions – Aalishan Pakistan (Rs 250m), visits of caravans to Central Asian states (Rs 150m) and Expo-Pakistan (Rs 250m), sources said.
Former FPCCI VP also said TDAP has lost its importance as exports have been falling for the last three years. He said the authority was established to promote exports — something it has failed to do. “I think the government should reform TDAP,” he suggested, adding, ‘Spending millions of rupees on foreign visits will not promote exports.”
The focus should be on the domestic market and its supply chain. TDAP did not pay attention to the supply side and domestic commerce. Top officials of TDAP and the Ministry of Commerce are the major beneficiaries of TDAP’s foreign trips, he added.
Mentioning the bad governance in TDAP, he said that $2 billion rice exports from Punjab have declined by half during the last three years. Most of the kinnow, rice and other agriculture products are exported from Punjab. Sports, surgical and glove industries are located in Sialkot while the marble industry is based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Yet the agro-food division of TDAP is located in Karachi.
Trade analysts say TDAP officers should be posted to different regions on the basis of products that are manufactured there. For instance, officers posted in Sialkot should look after industries like sports goods and surgical goods. Some of the offices in Karachi need to be relocated to other provinces, especially Balochistan and KP to enhance exports.
