The Federal Textile Board (FTB) will meet on Friday (today) to discuss Prime Minister's Export Incentive Package with respect to enhancement of textile exports as well as the formulation of a long term plan for the development of the sector.
According to documents available with Business Recorder, the FTB would meet with Minister for Commerce Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan in the chair in Expo Centre, Lahore to discuss a three-point agenda: (i) Prime Minister Incentives Package, (ii) way forward/plan to enhance exports; and (iii) suggestions and recommendations by the textile sector Associations for formulation of long term plan for the development of textile sector.
Sources revealed toBusiness Recorder that FTB meeting was called after the textile exporters pointed out ambiguities with respect to Prime Minister Incentives Package and emphasised the need for clarification.
The incentives package allows Ministry of Textile Industry duty drawback for garments, home textiles, processed fabric, greige fabric and yarn manufacturers' cum-exporters units under the Prime Ministers Package of incentives for exporters effective after 16th January, 2017. A notification top this effect has already been issued. According to the Textile Ministry notification, drawback shall be available only to manufacturing cum exporters. The units availing the drawback shall be registered with the Ministry of Textile Industry.
Chairman Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) Ijaz Khokhar toldBusiness Recorder there were ambiguities with respect to Prime Minister Package for exporters and a letter to that effect has already been sent to Secretary Textile requesting the convening of a meeting of the Federal Textile Board to discuss the issues and remove ambiguities. He added that the package should not be restricted to manufacturing cum-exporters and should be applicable to all categories of exports.
In addition Khokhar stated exporters had stated it was difficult to show growth in exports during the next six months period as it would take time to avail the actual incentives announced by the government.
The country's textile exports are showing dismal performance for the last three years and this trend has disturbed the government. Textile exports fell 1.65 percent to $6.156 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year against $6.259 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year as per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The meeting will explore opportunities to accelerate textile exports.
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