Pakistan - 22 Percent Decline in Textile Machinery Imports

Textile machinery imports declined by 22 percent in eight months of the current financial year as industrialists did not find textile sector attractive for further investment, industry sources said. They said that investment on balancing, modernization and renovation of textile has been continuously declining since 2004-05 after a record of $928.6 million investment in a year. According to economic survey, textile machinery imports declined to $817.24 million in 2005-06, to $502.97 million in 2006-07, and to $281.725 million in July-February of 2007-08.

The textile sector provides about 67 percent foreign exchange and 40 percent jobs to the industrial workforce directly and 45 percent indirectly to the farmers and rural labor of the country.

Sources said that the main reason for depression in this economic lifeline of the country is the rise in bank interest rate from 4.5 percent to more than 11 percent, decrease in cotton production, high cost of energy, long hours of load shedding, higher wages of skilled workmen as compared to Pakistan's international competitors, general law, and order situation of the country.

Source: Business Recorder