Pakistan's textile exports will be reduced by about $2 billion if Pakistan is not included in the Feinstein Bill, currently being discussed in the US Senate. Sources told Business Recorder here on Friday that Feinstein Bill, introduced in the US Senate for granting duty-free status to poorly performing economies, was in the final stage and is expected to be passed soon.
If Pakistan remains excluded from the Bill it will have serious impact on Pakistan's textile industry, and textile exports may decrease from $10.5 billion to $8.5 billion, sources said. USA is the largest importer of Pakistan's textiles. Senators Dianne Feinstein, Democrat, and Kit Bond, Republican, introduced a bill on May 21, 2009 which could provide duty-free treatment for textile and apparel goods, up to a limit, from 15 developing countries.
The said Bill proposes to offer duty-free access to textile products of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Laos, Maldives, Nepal, Samoa, Solomon Islands, East Timor, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Yemen. Industry circles expressed concern over the possible exclusion of Pakistan from this duty concession facility. In the current security scenario, sources said, Pakistan is under more stress than the least developed countries.
Sources added that the said Bill for the least developed countries, if approved, would result in a massive reduction in Pakistan's textile exports to the US. Pakistan is negatively affected by the war on terror and deserves some compensation in the form of better access to the American market for its products.
Due to electricity and gas load shedding, Pakistan's textile industry is already in deep trouble and its survival would be further endangered if the bill, introduced in the US Senate for granting duty-free entry to textiles of 15 least developed countries (LDCs), excludes Pakistan.
Sources urged the government to immediately take up this issue with US authorities to save own textile industry as US is the major importer of textile products. The government should come up with special relief package for the revival of textile industry and bring some sort of stability to the economy, they added.