20000106

Textile sector

quota likely to grow

by 10 pc

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Quota for Pakistani textile sector is expected to grow by 10 percent this year, said textile exporters.

The exporters said each year the quota grew by 4 to 6 percent. The expected 10 percent growth might help the government to set an improved target of foreign exchange earnings.

However, the exporters were not satisfied with the newly-announced Textile Quota Policy.

In the last week meeting held in the Export Promotion Bureau, Karachi, the exporters expressed their reservations about the quota policy, specially the auction of 'growth quota'.

The exporters said that the growth quota should be allocated on the performance basis and the criteria should be on the basis of valuation of the last year performance.

However, the idea of allocation was rejected by the Commerce Minister and announced for auction of the growth quota. The auction yields income for the government.

"The growth of 10 percent quota will create more chances for growth in exports but the misuse of quota has always been damaging for the exporters," commented an exporter.