LAHORE
\nThe Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMA) has urged the government to reconsider its decision to link export rebates with incremental growth in exports, saying exporters should not be penalised for failing to achieve higher year-on-year growth due to domestic and global factors beyond their control.
\nPHMA North Zone Chairman Abdul Hameed said the export-oriented industry fully supported the government\u2019s objective of increasing exports, but making rebate eligibility conditional on achieving incremental growth could put additional pressure on exporters already facing severe challenges.
\nHe said the rebate mechanism should be designed as a support measure to improve competitiveness rather than a penalty-based system. Exporters, he added, were operating under difficult conditions due to high electricity and gas tariffs, elevated interest and markup rates, rising production costs, liquidity constraints, taxation pressures, delayed refunds and frequent changes in industrial and export policies.
\nPRGMEA Zonal Chairman Imran Salahuddin said the government\u2019s export rebate policy should be structured in a manner that supports exporters facing genuine economic and market challenges.
\nPRGMEA Former Chairman Ijaz Khokhar said Pakistan\u2019s export sector could not achieve sustainable growth unless the government addressed the fundamental issues affecting the cost of production and ease of doing business.
\nPHMA Former Chairman Shahzad Azam Khan said the rebate mechanism should recognise the difficult conditions under which exporters were operating and should not create uncertainty for businesses. He said export incentives were intended to strengthen Pakistan\u2019s competitiveness and should therefore be made transparent, predictable and accessible to genuine exporters.
\nPHMA Former Chairman Naseer Ahmad Butt said the government needed to protect the competitiveness of Pakistan\u2019s value-added textile and hosiery sector, which provided employment to a large number of people and contributed significantly to the country\u2019s exports. He said linking rebates solely with incremental growth could discourage exporters during periods of weak international demand.
\nPHMA Sialkot Vice Chairman Tariq Mahmood Bhatti said exporters needed a stable business environment and consistent government policies to make long-term investment and expansion decisions. He said frequent policy changes, rising production costs and liquidity constraints were affecting the ability of exporters to compete globally. He supported the proposal for a two-tier rebate mechanism under which exporters would receive basic support while additional incentives would be provided for genuine incremental export performance.
\nPHMA Former Vice Chairman Khawaja Musharraf Iqbal said Pakistan\u2019s export growth depended on improving productivity, reducing the cost of doing business and strengthening the competitiveness of export-oriented industries. He said the government should engage with trade bodies before implementing major changes in export incentive policies.
\nAbdul Hameed said export performance was also being affected by international factors, including weak global demand, intense competition, geopolitical uncertainty, higher freight and logistics costs and changing buying patterns. These factors, he said, were beyond the control of individual exporters, making it unfair to withdraw or recover rebates simply because exports did not exceed the previous year\u2019s level.
\nHe said the government\u2019s performance-based rebate scheme, under which exporters achieving annual growth of up to 10 percent over the preceding year would qualify for a rebate of 1 percent of incremental export value, while those achieving growth above 10 percent would receive a 2 percent rebate, was aimed at encouraging export expansion. However, the policy needed to be reviewed to ensure it did not unintentionally penalise genuine exporters facing difficult market conditions.
\nThe PHMA leader said the government should instead provide a predictable and transparent rebate framework under which eligible exporters could continue receiving basic support, while additional incentives could be offered to those achieving higher export growth.
\nHe proposed that the rebate system should have two components: a basic rebate available to eligible exporters to offset structural cost disadvantages, and an additional performance incentive for those achieving genuine incremental growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE The Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMA) has urged the government to reconsider its decision to link export rebates with incremental growth in exports, saying exporters should not be penalised for failing to achieve higher year-on-year growth due to domestic and global factors beyond their control. PHMA North Zone Chairman Abdul Hameed said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-560022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n