The Ministry of Textile Industry has finalised the draft of the proposed Textile Policy (2014-19), with an export target of $26 billion for the next five years, it is learnt. Official sources revealed to Business Recorder that the draft of the textile policy has been finalised; and it would be forwarded to Commerce, Industries and Production along with other relevant ministries for comments as required under the law.
After the input of different ministries, the policy would be laid before the Cabinet to be chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for final approval. The new textile policy may be announced by mid-July 2014, sources added. The ministry has proposed Rs 80 billion to finance different initiatives of the policy during this period where more focus would be on value addition and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Under the proposed five-year policy, funds will be released on a quarterly basis and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will directly execute it. The government is seeking to increase textile exports by $2 billion per annum under the proposed textile policy, sources added.
They said that instead of giving direct policy incentives, the government support would be project based aimed at increasing productivity, producing skilled labour and inculcating awareness about the latest technologies among them. The ministry has also proposed to encourage international textile brands to introduce high quality Pakistani products. A business center would be set up in Islamabad where different brands (companies) would be able to establish their offices that will facilitate foreign buyers to visit one place and meet the vendors to place their orders. Incentives would be announced for investors in the new textile policy to attract investment, officials added. The government has also proposed to add value to the different textile sub-sectors supply chain and to contemplate on schemes to maximise and utilise new technology and machinery in the industry, introduce more product lines and work on market diversification, stressing sustainable development.
The ministry has also proposed to ensure power supply to the textile sector on priority basis to enhance production and meet exports orders which may earn huge foreign exchange, besides creating jobs opportunities, officials added. The on-going textile policy 2009-14 announced by the previous government is going to expire on June 30; however it failed to meet the envisaged textile exports target of $25 billion which is currently no more than $13.5 billion, said the officials, adding that main reasons behind the failure of the policy were non-implementation of different initiatives due to short releases of funds and energy crisis. For the implementation of textile policy (2009-14), the previous government had earmarked Rs 188 billion, but the finance ministry released only Rs 28 billion.
Comments
Comments are closed.