ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said on Thursday that the government was taking all possible measures to attract foreign and domestic investment in the textile sector for installation of new plants and operationalization of sick units.
He said this during a meeting with a textile exporters’ delegation in Islamabad, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Textile.
The adviser stressed the need to enhance the existing capacity of the manufacturing sector in order to increase the country’s industrial base.
“With the recent surge in exports (quantitative), it is about time that we fully utilise the existing production capacity and operationalise the closed units on a competitive basis,” the adviser emphasised. “Owing to the prudent policies of the government with regard to business facilitation, these sick units have a chance to reconnect to their past glory.”
The meeting was informed that the exports of readymade garments increased 32.77pc in 2018-19, while that of knitwear witnessed a surge of 15.52pc during the same period.
Dawood noted that the US-China trade war has had a positive impact on textile exports from Pakistan.
“The Global Value Chains (GVCs), especially in the textile sector, are realigning in the US market due to higher tariffs against Chinese imports. This realignment has provided Pakistan’s textile industry with a tremendous opportunity to integrate itself into the GVCs.”
He said it was imperative to enhance the country’s industrial base in order to revitalise the economy.
“Competitive import substitution, export enhancement, employment and revenue generation cannot be ensured without the expansion of industrial base,” he maintained.
Before embarking upon revival of Pakistan textile industry, an exercise must be undertaken to know why it became sick? Probably, they pulled back their investment in textile sector in the last over a decade and invested in the real estate within the country and abroad and now they are looking for more incentive like banks /DFIs liberal financing and fiscal incentives like tax holiday, zero custom duty and what not, all at the cost of state exchequer. Moreover how much this industry earn foreign exchange in real terms i.e total textile exports minus cost of importing machinery, chemicals/dyes etc to work out how much benefit it accrues to the national kitty.