The PLI scheme for textiles covers 40 man-made fibre (MMF) garment items, 14 MMF fabric goods and 10 technical textile products. The textile ministry has received applications from as many as 67 companies to avail benefits of the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for man-made fibres and technical textile sectors, a top government official said on Saturday. The PLI scheme for textiles covers 40 man-made fibre (MMF) garment items, 14 MMF fabric goods and 10 technical textile products. The government had approved the PLI scheme worth Rs 10,683 crore for the sector with an aim to boost domestic manufacturing, create jobs and promote exports. "We have taken a number of steps to promote growth of the technical textile sector. There has been a very good response for the PLI scheme. "As many as 67 companies have made applications for being a part of the PLI for MMF and technical textiles and against our expectations of over Rs 19,000 crore investments, these companies have shown that they would be investing like Rs 22,000-23,000 crore in the MMF and technical textiles," Textiles Secretary U B Singh said at a CII event. The technical textiles (techtex) segment is a sunrise sector and holds huge potential for growth, he said. It is used in different areas such as construction, road, railways, healthcare, automobile, and agriculture. The market size of the sector in India is about USD 20 billion. The global market size is about USD 260 billion. Faster development of infrastructure, increasing demand for passenger cars, healthcare, sports and awareness about personal hygiene are some of the reasons for healthy growth of the sector, he added. The increasing potential needs to be tapped through creation of awareness, removal of policy bottlenecks and developing more standards. Principal Scientific Advisor to the Centre K Vijay Raghavan emphasised on the need for increasing R&D investments in the segment. Speaking at the conference, Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Vikram Jardosh said announcements like PLI scheme, PM-MITRA, and National Technical Textiles Mission would help in promoting growth of the sector. "Huge scope is there to tap the global market in the sector," she said.
Source: Economic Times
"As of March 7, 2022, our exports are over USD 380 billion and well poised to cross USD 400 billion and probably closing the year at USD 410 bn on merchandise. We will have a record services exports upward of USD 240 billion," Goyal said at a dinner hosted in honour of his Canadian counterpart Mary Ng. The country's merchandise exports have reached over USD 380 billion so far this fiscal till March 7 and are expected to reach USD 410 billion in 2021-22, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday. He also said that India and Canada have formally re-launched negotiations for a free trade agreement, which is officially dubbed as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). "As of March 7, 2022, our exports are over USD 380 billion and well poised to cross USD 400 billion and probably closing the year at USD 410 bn on merchandise. We will have a record services exports upward of USD 240 billion," Goyal said at a dinner hosted in honour of his Canadian counterpart Mary Ng. Talking about the India-Canada relationship, he said this economic partnership will strengthen efforts to take economic ties to the next level. "This will help generate jobs, help each other in times of need and work with each other in several international forums...We have over 7,00,000 persons of Indian origin in Canada today, slated to go up to 1.4 million in the next few years....," Goyal said. He also urged the Canadian minister to be a "little more liberal" while negotiating the trade agreement. The minister also sought investments from Canada in areas like infrastructure and manufacturing. The Canadian minister said that huge opportunities are there in India for businesses. "We already have strong people to people ties," she said, adding Canadian businesses have invested about USD 65 billion in India, which reflects the potential here. "I am looking forward for doing more work on this front," the minister said. Mary Ng added that Canada is also pursuing a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) with India. "We have seen an incredible flow of investments from Canada even without that," she said, adding FIPA would further help strengthen and create confidence among Canadian investors. Talking about the current global situation, she said: "I do think that we should acknowledge the circumstances in which we meet, which are quite difficult". "The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a threat to world peace and Canada unequivocally condemns this...Invasion is a challenge to the rule-based international order and Canada has a very vibrant Ukrainian Canadian community....so the current events that are taking place are profoundly felt in homes and communities across Canada. Alongside allies, Canada stands against authoritarianism and with a democratic Ukraine now and in the future," she said. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the challenges that the world order is facing require really not just a political response but an economic response as well. He said that "globally, we have today more than a million students. The maximum number of students we have anywhere in the world today is in Canada". "If you look at the big issues of the day, I really see a very strong convergence between us...Opportunities are there," he added. He noted that business would help in further strengthening the relationships between the two countries.
Source: Economic Times
Gadkari said the country has to reduce its dependence on crude oil, which is the need of the hour for the industry, and opt for alternative fuel like green hydrogen. Gadkari said the country has to reduce its dependence on crude oil, which is the need of the hour for the industry, and opt for alternative fuel like green hydrogen. Indian exporters are sitting on large orders as the Russia-Ukraine conflict has sharply increased logistics costs, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday. He said exporters are concerned over availability of containers and port-related issues. "Because of these complications, the industry is not being able to take advantage of such large exporter orders," the Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways said at a virtual session organised by the Confederation ofIndian IndustryEastern Region. According to Hellenic Shipping News, worldwide shipping costs have increased 30 per cent year-on-year. Gadkari said the country has to reduce its dependence on crude oil, which is the need of the hour for the industry, and opt for alternative fuel like green hydrogen. The minister said the Centre is in the process of setting up 35 multi-modal logistics parks (MMLP), which would help the Indian exports sector become more competitive in the international market. Gadkari said the MMLPs will be developed on PPP basis with a capital outlay of Rs 46,000 crore.
Source: Economic Times
"We forecast India's total merchandise exports to continue to cross the USD 100 billion mark for the third consecutive quarter in a row, amounting to USD 111.3 billion, growing at 23 per cent, and non-oil exports to amount to USD 95.2 billion, growing at 15.8 per cent, during the fourth quarter (January-March) of 2021-22," the bank said The country's merchandise exports are likely to be at USD 111.3 billion in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal, according to a forecast by India Exim Bank. Non-oil exports are expected to be at USD 95.2 billion in Q4 FY22, with total merchandise outbound shipment exceeding USD 414 billion for FY 2022, it said on Friday. "We forecast India's total merchandise exports to continue to cross the USD 100 billion mark for the third consecutive quarter in a row, amounting to USD 111.3 billion, growing at 23 per cent, and non-oil exports to amount to USD 95.2 billion, growing at 15.8 per cent, during the fourth quarter (January-March) of 2021-22," the bank said. This compares to USD 90.4 billion and USD 82.2 billion of total exports and non-oil exports, respectively, for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The rise in India's exports could be attributed largely to the continued global growth momentum and the resultant increase in global import demand, along with favourable global commodity prices, it said. The development finance institution, however, said that the growth forecast may be subject to commodity price volatility, and uncertainties in the global economy mainly driven by the current geopolitical tension.
Source: Economic Times
Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles today said the next Textile sector Unicorn should come from the ICT. Addressing the e-Summit 2022 of the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai on Atmanirbhar Renaissance, he called upon the ICT students to take the leadership in Tex-preneurship, the Textiles sector entrepreneurship. Shri Goyal said the ICT has one of India’s best Fibres & Textile technology department in the country. The ICT has a distinguished alumni like Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, Indravadan Modi of Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Nilesh Gupta of Lupin Limited and Ashwin Dani of Asian Paints, he added. “They have played an important role in making India Aatmanirbhar, particularly in the Chemicals and Pharma sectors. It’s unbelievable how one institute can shape a whole sector. In fact, in some sense, the ICT is to the Chemicals industry what very highly reputed Ivy league colleges are to the technology world or management world across nations. And I do believe each one of your students has a responsibility to carry this legacy forward!” said Shri Goyal, in his address delivered over video conference. Quoting John F Kennedy, “One person can make a difference and everyone should try to be that one person”, Shri Goyal said entrepreneurs are best defined as Nation Builders and Change Makers. Shri Goyal said the Government is working as an enabler and has taken transformational initiatives to promote the Textiles sector, including the PLI, setting up of 7 Mega Textile Parks, launching the National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) to position India as global leader in Technical Textiles and 31 projects have been already approved. Shri Goyal said India is going through the Aatmanirbhar Renaissance. “We are taking great leaps in innovation, Research & Development is finally being recognised as an important element for developing or progressing the country into the New Age. And I suspect nobody today is satisfied with incremental change, incremental improvement; we are all looking at orbital shift in the way we live in our world,” he said. Shri Goyal said India has become a global leader in digital transactions within 5 yrs of UPI launch. We have the 3rd largest Startup ecosystem today, over 65,000 Startups registered in five years, more than 90 Unicorns and lakhs of jobs created by these Startups. Shri Goyal said the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has said that the current decade is the ‘Tech-ade’ of India, a decade where Technology & Innovation will be the driving force of India and our economy. “Prime Minister Modi himself is a very firm believer on the power of our youth of the Startups. He has focused on this ecosystem to strengthen innovation, provide opportunities to our young boys and girls, to simplify processes, handhold them through their journey, help provide funding support wherever required or simplification of the regulatory requirements around the Startups, help create incubation centres, the Atal Tinkering Labs are one such experiment which have given phenomenal results, and I do believe, the Industry-Academia partnership is going to define the India of tomorrow,” he said. Shri Goyal said, as the country celebrates 75th year of Independence, the destiny of India’s Amrit Kaal is in the hands of the youth. “It is you who will write the script of the Aatmanirbhar Renaissance, Government will be a companion in your entrepreneurial journey. ‘Vocal for Local’ & ‘Make In India’ will be a step towards an self-reliant Aatmanirbhar Bharat”, he said. Quoting Bharat Ratna M Vishwesaraiya, who played a key role in founding of ICT, “Remember, your work may be only to sweep a railway crossing, but it is your duty to keep it so clean that no other crossing in the world is as clean as yours”, Shri Goyal said we need businesses to improve their product cycles, innovate future ready solutions and continuously focus on Business process Re-engineering. “Today, India is confident and yet dissatisfied! It is a good thing to be dissatisfied, because a satisfied individual can never bring transformation, can never bring change. We need hunger, we need fire in the belly to be able to do something, to be able to bring about some extraordinary achievement,” he said.
Source: PIB
The minister also said highlighted the importance of technical textiles for boosting the economy of the country and its potential to contribute to Atmanirbhar Bharat mission through various flagship missions and schemes of the Centre. Minister of State for Textiles Darshana Vikram Jardosh on Saturday said that it is the right time to maximise investment, employment, and women’s participation in the textiles industry. Speaking at a conference on technical textiles organised by the Ministry of Textiles in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) the minister also said highlighted the importance of technical textiles for boosting the economy of the country and its potential to contribute to ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ mission through various flagship missions and schemes of the Centre. Jardosh said that Indian market in technical textiles has enormous scope to grow further and capture the global market on the back of the National Technical Textiles Mission, PLI, and PM MITRA schemes. Speaking at the event V.K. Saraswat, Member of NITI Aayog stressed on various factors to drive the domestic technical textiles market including rising incomes, expanding infrastructure and construction, growing healthcare, and increasing global market, among others. K. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India highlighted the vital role of innovative solutions and research and development (R&D) in driving the technical textiles market in India under its flagship programme National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) during his special address. He was of the view that in coming years various environmental issues will lead to rising in temperatures up to 50 degrees celsius, scarcity of drinking water, and other environmental hazards, and therefore, a proactive roadmap may be thought up for bringing up new high-end low-cost technological interventions in the application areas of technical textiles addressing the issue. U.P. Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles said that India positioned itself as the fifth largest market with $20 billion size and an annual average growth rate of 8%. With rapid industrialisation, fast growth in infrastructure, increasing automobile production, rising demand from healthcare sector, increasing interest in sports and fitness activities, awareness towards personal hygiene and sanitation, the growth of technical textiles in India is expected to remain sustained level for the next decade, he said. He added that the Centre is making all efforts to promote technical textiles including mandatory use of 92 items by government organisations covering agriculture, horticulture, highways, railways, water resources, and medical applications, 100 new Indian Standards in the pipeline, and introduction of six new courses and another new 20 courses are under preparation in technical textiles.
Source:Live Mint.
India and Canada held the fifth Ministerial Dialogue on Trade & Investment (MDTI) here today. Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food, and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal and Ms. Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, Government of Canada co-chaired the MDTI. The Ministers agreed to formally re-launch the negotiations for India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and also consider an Interim Agreement or Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) that could bring early commercial gains to both the countries. The Ministers highlighted the existing trade complementarities between India and Canada and emphasised that the trade agreement would help in expanding bilateral trade in goods and services through unlocking the potential across sectors. The Interim Agreement would include high level commitments in goods, services, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, and dispute settlement, and may also cover any other areas mutually agreed upon. A range of other bilateral trade and investment issues were discussed during the meeting. Both countries agreed to undertake intensified work with respect to the recognition of Canada’s systems approach to pest risk management in pulses and market access for Indian agriculture goods such as sweet corn, baby corn and banana etc.Canada also agreed to examine expeditiously the request for Conformity Verification Body (CVB) status to APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) for facilitating Indian organic export products. The Ministers acknowledged the significance of establishing resilient supply chains in critical sectors and exchanged views on collaboration in this area. They emphasised enhancing cooperation in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and critical and rare earth minerals as well as in areas like tourism, urban infrastructure, renewable energy and mining. They also noted the role of strong people-to-people ties between the two countries, including movement of professionals and skilled workers, students, and business travellers, in strengthening the bilateral economic partnership. The Ministers agreed to work closely to provide sustained momentum to building linkages and strengthen cooperation across sectors to harness full potential of the trade and investment relationship between India and Canada.
Source: PIB
Vietnam's textile and garment industry is making efforts to realise its green production target and reduce emissions in a bid to help implement the Government’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). Vietnam's textile and garment industry is making efforts to realise its green production target and reduce emissions in a bid to help implement the Government’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). Due to CO2 emissions in the production process, the global fashion industry is one of the causes behind climate change. This is why many well-known fashion brands and textile manufacturers worldwide have set goals related to climate and the environment. To support Vietnamese textile and garment enterprises to reduce emissions through the efficient use of natural resources and energy, and chemical management, the German Development Cooperation Organisation (GIZ) and French sporting goods retailer Decathlon signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in improving the environmental performance of Vietnamese garment and textile suppliers. Accordingly, GIZ partners with Decathlon Vietnam through its projects, “Climate protection through sustainable bioenergy markets in Vietnam’ (BEM) and ‘Fostering and advancing sustainable business and responsible industrial practices in the clothing industry in Asia’ (FABRIC), to help Decathlon's Vietnamese suppliers improve their ability in climate change adaptation, efficiently use of water and energy, and manage chemicals at factories in 2022. Specifically, the GIZ FABRIC project will offer free e-learning courses namely “Climate Action Training” and “Chemical Management Training (e-REMC), via the platform www.atingi.org. The “Climate Action Training” provides basic knowledge on climate change, solutions to calculate and reduce greenhouse emissions, and solutions in terms of energy efficiency and renewable energy. Meanwhile, the e-REMC supports Vietnamese textile factories to improve and implement sustainable chemical management systems. Marc Beckmann, Director of GIZ FABRIC, underlined that tackling climate change requires collaboration with international brands to jointly improve the ability of textile and garment factories in the supply chain where most of the emissions and environmental impacts happen. Meanwhile, Decathlon will also provide its suppliers’ factories with training courses to increase the use of bioenergy and other renewable energy sources, and support studies on the biomass supply chain.
Source: Vietnam Plus
Since the biggest regional trade agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, came into force in February, cooperation between China and the Republic of Korea has strengthened in fields such as electronics, machinery, automobiles and textile. CGTN's Yoo-sumin reports from Seoul. The biggest regional trade agreement, called Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, came into force on February 1st, essentially affecting 15 countries including China and South Korea. China is by far South Korea's biggest trading partner, accounting for a quarter of its exports, and South Korea is China's third-largest trading partner. The two countries have had an FTA in effect since 2015, but the RCEP is expected to provide greater range and degree of benefits. It will slash tariffs of some 41 additional categories such as medical devices, mechanical equipment, semiconductor manufacturing parts, or industrial textiles. Twinny is a S.Korean autonomous robot company that falls under the "Machinery and equipment" category in the HS code system, which is used by customs to classify a product. The company expects the trade agreement to give it a leverage when exporting the products. YOUNGSEOK CHEON CEO of Twinny, Autonomous robot company "With RCEP taking effect, Twinny, which relies heavily on imported raw materials, will benefit from the supply and demand of raw materials and diversification of exports. Outbound shipments to China are also expected to rise with increased price competitiveness." Not only the mega trade pact provides preferential tariffs, and it unifies the rules of origin. YUJIN LEE Manager, Center for Trade Studies & Cooperation, KITA "In general, there is a standard in trade, such as using more than a few percent of the domestic ingredients, but with RCEP, all ingredients procured from 15 RCEP member countries are recognized as locally manufactured. Before RCEP took effect, the authorities only allowed parts and ingredients procured from South Korea and China when exporting to China – but RCEP recognizes ingredients obtained from Japan or Vietnam as domestic ingredients." RCEP also provides new opportunities for South Korean companies seeking to expand its footprint in China. Dear Dahila, is a luxury vegan cosmetics company that plans to aggressively venture out to China. China exempted "imported ordinary cosmetics" from undergoing animal testing last year. This allowed the luxury vegan brand to set its eyes on the promising market, with the retail sales value of cosmetics in China reaching 52.3 billion USD in 2020, according to Statisca. CHRISTINE LEE Senior Global Business Manager, DearDahlia "At the moment, there are no direct import-related benefits, but as we are planning to strike contracts with more local Chinese clients, we expect increased efficiency in the logistical and distribution process in shipping our products. And specially in the case of China, we plan to cooperate with more vendors, so the RCEP will help grant advantages for our partners." YOO-SUMIN Seoul "The RCEP agreement grants tariff reduction, enables greater market access, and involves simplified trade procedures. This favorable environment would enhance China- South Korea bilateral trade, and further strengthen regional integration in the Asia-Pacific region. Under a set of shared trade rules and standards, the RCEP agreement is expected to provide momentum to facilitate global free trade and multilateralism. Yoo-sumin, CGTN, Seoul."
Source: CGTN
Carbios, a pioneer in the development of enzymatic solutions dedicated to the end-of-life of plastic and textile polymers, has announced the validation of the 3rd and final technical step of the CE-PET research project, co-funded by ADEME3 (France’s Environment & Energy Management Agency), for which Carbios is lead partner alongside its academic partner TWB4. The achievement confirms, once again, the full potential and breadth of Carbios’ enzymatic recycling process, C-ZYME. This breakthrough innovation makes it possible to produce a wide variety of products of equivalent quality to those of petro-sourced origin from any PET waste, including textiles. Worldwide, around 90 million tons of PET are produced each year, more than 2/3 of which are used to manufacture fibres. However, only 13 per cent of textile waste is currently recycled, mainly for downcycling, i.e., for lower quality applications (such as padding, insulators or rags). By successfully manufacturing at pilot scale a white PET fibre that is 100 per cent enzymatically recycled from coloured textile waste, Carbios is paving the way for the circular economy in the textile industry. C-ZYME is now on the doorstep of industrialisation and will soon enable the biggest brands to move closer to their sustainability goals, the France-based company said in a press release. “Thanks to our breakthrough process, it will soon be possible to manufacture, on a large scale, t-shirts or bottles using polyester textile waste as raw material. This is a major breakthrough that gives value to waste that currently has little or no value. It is a concrete solution that opens up a global market of 60 million tons per year of potential raw materials and will help to reduce the use of fossil resources,” Emmanuel Ladent, chief executive officer of Carbios, said. It needs to be mentioned that from January 1, 2025, the separate collection of textile waste, which is already in place in some countries, will be mandatory for all EU Member States (European Directive 2018/851 on waste). Carbios’ process will be one of the solutions that will enable this waste to be sustainably recovered and included in a true circular economy model. These technological validations were carried out as part of the CE-PET research project, co-funded by ADEME3. In particular, the project aimed to develop Carbios’ enzymatic PET recycling process on textile waste. The C-ZYME technology is complementary to thermomechanical recycling and will make it possible to process plastic and textile waste deposits that are currently not or poorly recovered. For the validation of this stage of the project, Carbios received €827,200 (€206,800 in grants and €620,400 in repayable advances).
Source: Vietnam Plus
The Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) have renewed their longstanding partnership for another year under a newly revitalised memorandum of understanding (MoU). The organisations share a deep-seated commitment to ethical manufacturing. Their joint efforts in the social compliance space predominantly focus on education and training, said a press release on Sunday. The MoU was signed by Avedis Seferian, president and CEO of WRAP, and Faruque Hassan, president of BGMEA, on behalf of their respective sides at WRAP's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, USA on Friday (11 March). BGMEA Directors Abdullah Hil Rakib and Barrister Vidiya Amrit Khan, and Chairman of BGMEA Standing Committee on Foreign Mission Cell Shams Mahmud were present on the occasion. Under the agreement, WRAP will develop a series of training courses for BGMEA members which will be available at no charge and will be held either virtually or inperson, circumstances permitting. Additionally, the association's affiliate programme dedicated to the development of human resources in Bangladesh's readymade garment (RMG) and textiles sectors, BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology, will facilitate WRAP training for students, employees, and independent auditors. The agreement also covers additional commitments regarding events and sponsorships. "The high ethical manufacturing standards of Bangladeshi factories are well recognised by brands and consumers globally today. This partnership with WRAP will play a vital role in carrying forward the achievements of Bangladesh's garment industry in the area of social compliance and strengthen our industry's standing as a preferred hub of ethical manufacturing in the world," said Faruque Hassan. "Bangladesh is one of the world's premier sourcing destinations for garments, and the great efforts and leadership of the BGMEA plays a major role in maintaining that standing," said Avedis Seferian. "We have long had an excellent relationship with them and are pleased to renew and extend our partnership to work collectively in advancing the promotion of ethical and sustainable practices across the Bangladeshi apparel sector," Avedis Seferian added.
Source: TBS News
DESPITE persisting global challenges worsened by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the country’s garment and textile exports this year may expand by almost half to $1.5 billion as the industry is keen on filling up supply gaps by other producers. In a statement, the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (Fobap) said the domestic garments, textile and apparel industry has already received bulk orders from countries that cannot be served by Vietnam, China India and Bangladesh due to “minimum order quantity requirement.” “We will hit it [target] easily because we have all the orders right now on hand,” Fobap President Robert Young, who also serves as the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) trustee for textile, yarn and fabric sector, said. “We can now project that the $1.5 billion [exports volume] for 2022 year end is just a walk in the park,” Young added. Young said the industry would be able to fulfill its orders despite persisting supply chain problems such as port congestions. “We have a track record to boast of that we were number two in the whole Asia and exportation of garments and apparel therefore, we are still being considered as an alternative for the garment production of these foreign buyers,” he said. Nonetheless, Young admitted that the Russia-Ukraine crisis would be a challenge in meeting the industry’s export target this year due to trade sanctions on Russia such as garment expansion to the country. Young said the country’s shipments on apparel, textile and garments last year reached $1.052 billion—$758 million of which was accounted for by garments and apparels, and textile, $294 million. “There were actually $200 million worth of finished goods ready to be shipped by the end of 2021, but remained at the port due to the congestion. These goods only exited the port terminal facility last February,” he said. “Fobap, six months ago, had a projection that it would be $1.2 billion [exports volume for 2021] so we hit it. We are very elated for the Philippine economy that the garments business improved as compared to previous year, you really saw an increase in percentage despite the pandemic,” he added. Young explained that bulk or about 80 percent of the country’s textile and garment exports are shipped to the United States, while 20 percent to the European Union, Australia, Canada, and Asean countries. “Our aggressiveness [in marketing] is really there, we work 24/7, we are scouting for other orders which the other countries are not accepting due to the minimum [volume] requirement,” he said. Young added that certain policy measures that could be implemented by the next administration could help reach the $1.5-billion export target this year. “A serious consideration on the [revival of] nuclear power plant will finally solve our power cost, energy problem, that’s number one. Number two, the wages must be somehow reexamined and restudied,” he said. “There should also be a grant on tax deduction for export because this will somehow encourage the foreign investors to come in. The CREATE [Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises] law is there, but it’s not enough. We have to make an added feature attracting these foreign investors,” he added.
Source: Business Mirror
The island nation has to repay about $4 billion in foreign debt this year, including a $1 billion international sovereign bond maturing in July. Sri Lanka will begin talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month on a plan to help the crisis-hit country, including assistance with debt restructuring and managing its foreign exchange shortage, three sources said on Friday. Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa will travel to Washington D.C. in mid-April to present Sri Lanka's proposal to senior IMF officials, two sources with knowledge of the ongoing discussions told Reuters. "We are taking our proposal and a plan," one of the sources said, declining to be named since the discussions are confidential. "The government is serious about fixing things." Sri Lanka is facing its worst financial crisis in years. With foreign exchange reserves standing at a paltry $2.31 billion, the country is struggling to pay for critical imports including fuel, food and medicines. The island nation has to repay about $4 billion in foreign debt this year, including a $1 billion international sovereign bond maturing in July. The move to approach the IMF for help comes after months of resistance from Sri Lanka's government and central bank, despite calls from opposition leaders and experts to seek a bailout package. "We will discuss options based on our plans," the source said. Sri Lanka's finance ministry and the IMF did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters.
Source: Business Standard
