KARACHI: Pakistan’s textile exports declined for the fifth straight month in February, down 28 percent from the same month last fiscal year and reaching $1.2 billion, JEE News reported on Tuesday.
Data from the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) showed a dismal picture of exports of textile goods – the largest contributor to the overall export sector as well as the largest employment generator in the economy. There is a sector to do.
Aptama said that the country’s textile exports in the first eight months of the current fiscal year declined by 11 percent to $11.24 billion as against $12.60 billion recorded in the same months of the previous fiscal year.
The decline in textile exports comes at a time when the country is already facing a shortage of foreign exchange reserves, which stand at just $3.81 billion, barely enough to cover less than a month’s worth of imports. .
Last month, Aptama urged the federal government to create a level playing field for the export industry across the country by implementing a uniform gas price of $7 per mmbtu.
It also warned that the government’s decision to suspend Regional Competitive Energy Tariff (RCET) for electricity for export units (EOUs) would hurt the textile industry, especially in Punjab.
APTMA Secretary General Shahid Sattar has said in a letter to the government that the textile industry is demanding 9 cents electricity tariff despite the fact that the cost of electricity including transmission and distribution losses would have been 8.1 cents per unit if cross-subsidized. go According to the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) calculations were excluded.
The textile body wants the government to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to continue the RCET for exporters, particularly the textile sector, which was vital to make the product competitive in the international market.
“We have invested $5 billion in the textile sector in the last three years, and the textile sector has grown from $12.5 billion in FY 2020 to $19.5 billion in FY 2022,” Sattar said.
He pointed out that strong export growth of 55% and investment of $5 billion in FY22 would be lost if the government bowed to IMF pressure.
