Pakistan’s Textile Industry: Messages from Sohail Pasha Chairman Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA)

TEXT: It is a matter of great pleasure and immense satisfaction that Pakistan is moving towards economic growth, prosperity & stability and will soon emerge as one of the economic powers in the region. Textile export industry is highly grateful to the Prime Minister Imran Khan and his entire team for carving pathway for a growth-led economy; resultantly textile industry regained the growth momentum and witnessed highest ever 22.94 % growth in exports during FY 2021 despite adverse impacts of Covid-19 pandemic.

World’s major economies shrunk mainly due to the deadliest COVID 19 waves, but it is Pakistan that showed tremendous performance in increasing the exports whereas the regional competing economies of India and Bangladesh remained in the negative zone. Now, the real target is to achieve sustainable growth in exports, which can be attained only if the trajectory of growth remains at higher side for the next 10 15 years. We firmly believe that sustainability in exports is the only recipe to cope with the economic miseries of Pakistan, as industrialization will help ensure maximum jobs in the country, increasing the living standards of the people.

There are still challenges which needed to be resolved for attaining sustainability in exports. Government should maintain pro-export policies, which it has extended to the industry. This will help the country to harness sustainability target for which there is a need to acquire perpetual export growth for the next 10 15 years. The new orders are a windfall for Pakistan's industry and it can sustain for years to come; it all depends on how we steer this industry into the future. Serious and well-planned efforts are imperative for increase in value-addition especially in textile sector for capturing more share in the regional and international markets.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021