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Exports of garments, home textile: KEPZ slams decision on drawback facility

Staff Report

KARACHI: The Karachi Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) Business Council criticised the vested interests for creating recent controversy of whether to allow 3 percent duty drawback facility on the exports of garments and home textile from the zone despite the clear notification of the Ministry of Textile Industries.

According to a press release on Thursday, a spokesman said under the current circumstances, when number of factories have already closed down and others are facing liquidity crunch due to international economic conditions and recession in the countries where Pakistani textiles are being exported, such attitude is difficult to understand as denying drawback facility would render the manufacturing non-competitive in the zone resulting in more closure of textile factories in the zones and would also leave thousands of workers jobless out of which 50 percent are female workers.

In the event of closure of garments factories in KEPZ the government tends to lose $200 million in export per year.

The EPZs in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are thriving and working at the full capacity and their exports are in billions of dollars and no further space is available in these zones whereas the position is reverse in KEPZ.

The council demanded of the government not to discriminate between the manufacturers and exports of tariff and non-tariff area, which is also as per the decision of the Sindh High Court.

It was decided that the KEPZ investors would seek the time for meeting with the EPZA chairman, textile minister and production minister, under whose purview the EPZs are functioning.

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