Finally our democratic govt announced Trade policy 2008-2009. It seems they didn’t consider the protest of textile units and other exporters while finalized it. Right after its announcement Govt ministers started praising it though most of them don’t know what a trade policy isHere we discuss its highlights:

1-EXPORT TARGET IS USD22.10 BILLION WHICH REPRESENTS GROWTH OF 15% OVER LAST YEAR

How govt is going to achieve this target when:

A-textiles units are being closed due to energy crises and because of waivers of subsidies

B-there is no subsidy for surgical item manufacturers and exporters

C-agricultural exports will be very less because of water shortage and local demand

D-no subsidy given to live stock so the meat and dairy product exports can be enhanced

E-No SOLID benefit announced for pharma exporters

F-International markets are going tough on Pakistani exports day by day as British anti-dumping duty and other barriers

G-Foreign direct investment is decreasing day by day moreover current capital is going out of country. Many international orders like ADIDAS, NIKE, QUICKSILVER, CUBA, SODI REP, VISION ITALIA  already have gone to Bangladesh, china and Malaysia. So how this target will be met?

H-American economy is on slower pace so the knitwear exports are decreasing rapidly; moreover Denim exports are being short

2-TRADE DEFICIT WILL BE DECREASED BY DECREASE IN IMPORT:Our local products are more costly than imported one (especially from china) so how this import will be minimized?  Moreover, Oil is one of the main import of Pakistan, how govt will pack this Gin into a bottle? Though Govt has announced import of 8000 CNG bases but that will also a huge import that will lead to an increased import bill.

3-IMPORT OF MACHINARY , EQUIPMENT AND BOOKS  FROM INDIA IS ALLOWEDIndian market is far larger than our market and we have very rare exports to India such as minerals, textile and decoration but they huge range to fill our market. Ch ahmed Mukhtar has given a signal to give status of MFN to India . How he will restrict India to stuff our market from its cheaper goods? This will increase our imports drastically and it will cause more depreciation in our currency.

 4-NO SUBSIDY WILL BE GIVEN TO TEXTILE SECTORTextile sector which is already suffering with high costs of energy and power , govt has withdrawn subsidies which will increase their production cost. Few days back I visited a textile mill in FSD , they were spending 4 karor rupees a month to buy diesel in order to run their generators for electricity. How can they meet the markets like India, china, Malaysia, Bangladesh???

5-EXPORT SAMPLE VALUE HAS BEEN ICNREASED UPTO 5000 DOLLARS AND FOR AUTO SECTOR UPTO 50,000 DOLLARS

Thus our all exporters will be sending their products to other countries as sample by breaking the order into small shipments each worth 5000 dollars. Thus a new door of corruption will be opened.

 Yet it is a summary …there will be more flaws in view once complete policy comes out.