News & Views
Textile policy to be approved by August: Dawood During a media briefing the advisor to the prime minister for commerce and Investment Abul Razak Dawood mentioned that the government is set to unveil an ambitious Textile and Apparel Policy 2020-25 by the following month. The proposed policy is aimed at increasing the textile and clothing exports between $15.7bn to $20.8bn by the end of the year 2025. Revenue implications of tariff concessions, energy rates brought delays to this problem. One crucial requirement of the textile division is the restoration of the zero-rated regime for the five export-oriented sectors which had been previously withdrawn in the year 2019. However the adviser claimed that the technical hurdles were addressed and the consultation process with stakeholders was also completed. He mentions that the textile industry had performed remarkably this year and is investing heavily in new technology and capacity expansion taking advantage of the cheap credit made available under the SBP’s Temporary Economic Recovery Facility (TERF). In reply to a query, the adviser also claimed that another long awaited new trade policy, the draft policy on Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2020-25,
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PAKISTAN TEXTILE JOURNAL - July 2021
Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor for Commerce, Textile, Industry and Production, and Investment of Pakistan.
has also been submitted to ECC for approval. The ECC would also approve the policy soon, he said. Under the proposed STPF, a three-tier institutional mechanism is proposed for the resolution of sector-specific problems. It is believed that new mechanisms will help facilitate exporters to overcome their problems. Earlier while briefing about the historic growth in exports, the adviser informed that export of goods grew by 18 % to $ 25.3 billion during FY 2020-21 which is the highest ever in the history of Pakistan. The exports in June 2021 were also the highest in any month in our past, at $ 2.7 billion. The exports of Services for the year is projected to be $ 5.9 billion. The cumulative exports of Goods and Services during FY 2021 will therefore cross $ 31 billion. The Adviser to Prime Minister on
Commerce and Investment, Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood said that “This is a remarkable achievement by our exporters considering the difficulties created by COVID-19 at home and resultant contractions in our major markets”. It was not an easy task as many countries went into lockdown, and severely affected the business. Not only our exports survived the crisis but also we have enhanced it in many sectors. I salute our exporters on achieving the milestone.” The Ministry of Commerce (MOC)’s Tariff Policy Board was formed under the National Tariff Policy with the major objective to improve the competitiveness of the Industry through gradual reduction of Customs Duty (CD), Additional Customs Duty (ACD), Regulatory Duty (RD), time bound tariff protection to strategic & import substitution industries and simplification of tariff structure and procedures. In the current budget 2021-22, major rationalization in textile value chain, iron & steel raw materials for all kind of flat products, pharmaceutical raw materials, machinery & equipment, inputs for footwear, glass, poultry, food processing industry would further lead not only to revival of industrialization in the country but also enhanced exports. With the current measures exports are expected to grow by 5% in the next two years.
