Islamabad: The Pakistani rupee’s depreciation, as well as the country’s energy shortage, have hit the industry of textiles extremely hard, as around 150 factories have been shut down over the past six months, as reported by WealthPK.
The closing of the spinning and textile factories has made around 2.5 million people unemployed, in addition to negatively impacting the export of textile products in Pakistan to other nations. In the owners’ statement, mills claim that the production price grew by 100% in the past six months following an unprecedented electricity tariff increase. They stated that the electricity price in the textiles industry was 18 rupees per unit. They claimed that the cost of petroleum products has increased from R150 per liter to Rs245 per bottle over the past six months.
As per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the export of textiles contributed 61% of the total exports, which reached $31.8 billion in the preceding year. Knitwear exports grew by 34.32 percent and were $5.12 billion in the fiscal year 2021-22, contrasted with $3.81 billion during the prior fiscal.
“We are the fifth-largest country by the size of our population. We must transform Pakistan into the world’s fifth-largest economy. The government should establish goals to improve the economy. Inflation is merely due to the decline in the value that the currency of India is the US dollar.” He added. He also said that the external debt balance was similar to its position in 2018.
Implementing the IMF‘s plan in its entirety and spirit is vital to set up an effective structure that will increase exports and regulate the flow of imports,” said Dr. Gohar. Dr. Gohar declared that Pakistan was in a trade deficit of $40 billion, with imports of $70 billion and exports of $30 billion.”Pakistan requires the development of requirement-based policies to boost exports. Pakistan can meet its needs in terms of economic and social requirements,” he added.