State Bank Governor Dr Ishrat Hussain has expressed hope on next three years to bring golden opportunity for textile exporters to capture North American and European markets before China enters the hitherto quota-free market.
If Pakistani textile mills entrenched themselves in these markets the country will have smooth sailing into the new world trade order, otherwise the going will become really tough, he said while addressing members of All Pakistan Cloth Exporter Association (Apcea) here on Wednesday.
He said that after China, only two other countries--Pakistan and India--were in a position to dominate the world markets of textiles.
The SBP Governor emphatically stated that consistency in Pakistan's economic policies since 1999 has been the mainstay of economic strategy, and added that he hoped that this consistency would continue when Shaukat Aziz assumes country's premier-ship.
He said that the impact of these consistent policies has been felt not only within the country but has also been acknowledged by world economic bodies, particularly IMF. Resultant upon these prudent policies Pakistan is now returning its costly debts, and new investment in private sector was coming forth in a big way, he added.
He said that another important government policy was privatisation. Ever since the present government came into power no state owned unit has been established. Rather, the public sector units are expeditiously but gainfully being offloaded. He said the biggest challenge for Pakistan, presently, was to fill the gap of $3.4 billion in foreign trade.
This gap , he said, could not be filled with new loans and has to be filled either from exports, or containment of imports. However, imports are as necessary as exports and in fact imports are supporting the exports of the country.
He said during last 5 years more than 3 billion dollars machinery has been imported which has helped the country to maintain the exports tempo.
He said that the private sector was being given due importance by the government and this was reflective in the capital market performance which has expanded from 7 billion rupees to 25 billion rupees.
He said that present government has given strength and new vision to financial sector of the country. He said infrastructure facilities in the country would improve with the passage of time and availability of resources.
In his address of welcome, Apcea Chairman Ahmad Kamal said: "We are heading towards the era of free trade. In the post-quota regime we shall be exposed to fierce competition with the countries like China who have very competitive cost of manufacturing and still enjoy subsidies in the form of dual currency system and subsidised utility inputs.
We need your wisdom & expertise in putting our economy on the track so we can be cost-efficient to survive in new world trade order."
He said that currency exchange rate is one of the key elements in the export business. With the frequent fluctuation in these rates of different banks, many exporters do not get the best possible conversion. "We request the conversion dealing should be available on web site where we stay updated and cannot be manipulated by the treasuries of the banks and can get the best possible deals."
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