FTP to avoid large fiscal support for exporters
Freeze import duties for next five years; cut customs levy slabs to 5: GTRI to Govt
High-quality FTA with India a priority, says UK trade minister
Mission 2047: India's march to become third largest economy
What should be the management strategy of our apparel industry in 2023
India a ‘bright spot’ in world economy right now: Top UN economist Hamid Rashid
INTERNATIONAL
UN forecasts fall in global economic growth to 1.9 per cent in 2023
ReSet the Trend: EU calls on young people to promote circular and sustainable fashion
A new fashion collection shields wearer from AI facial recognition
S. Korea, Cambodia to boost trade, investment via FTA
Ireland has poor record in recycling waste materials for 'circular economy'
Philippines textiles take spotlight at a fashion conference
Cash-strapped Pakistan’s rupee plunges amid talks with IMF
NATIONAL
In a departure from the past, the upcoming foreign trade policy (FTP) will refrain from rolling out schemes involving massive incentives to spur exports. Instead, it will focus on a “whole-of-government approach” under which officials of various wings, especially overseas missions and commerce and customs departments, will work in unison to realise an annual export target of $2 trillion (both goods and services) by 2030, sources close to the development told FE. The new policy could feature several facilitation programmes to make it easier for companies to export, they said. These would include relaxation of procedures and paperwork–especially in seeking permits and licence renewals–, removal of human interface and bolstering of automation on various aspects of trade. “Exporters will continue get tax remission and whatever support is required in terms of facilitation. Handing out subsidies is not going to be the goal of the new FTP,” said one of the sources. The new policy, which will come against the backdrop of faltering merchandise exports due to mounting external headwinds, is expected to be rolled out before March 31 when the validity of the current one expires, unless the government decides to extend it again. The commerce ministry, sources said, is also weighing the merits of a proposal to reduce the validity of the next FTP from the usual five years to better capture complex and fast churnings in global trade and respond to them swiftly, at a time when external headwinds are only mounting, said the sources. A final decision on this will be made soon. Of course, the validity of the current FTP, initially designed to cover the period between 2015 and 2020, has been extended up to March 2023 in the wake of the outbreak of the pandemic. The likely absence of substantial subsidies in the new FTP is in sync with commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal’s call to exporters to shun “the crutches of subsidies” and improve competitiveness, one of the sources said. Earlier, FTPs used to pledge more fiscal support to exporters. For instance, the government had announced the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS) in 2015, when the current FTP was rolled out, by merging five different schemes and sharply raising budgetary allocation for it. It had allocated as much as Rs 39,097 crore for exporters under the MEIS for the pre-pandemic year (FY20). This scheme was replaced with the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) programme from January 2021. The recent directive to offer a conditional one-time relief to traders from hotel, healthcare and education sectors from maintaining average export obligation under a scheme for capital goods without any fee was part of this broader initiative to ensure greater facilitation. Since the FTP is being designed in the aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak, it would lay stress on ensuring India’s greater integration with the global supply chain and reducing its elevated logistics costs. Moreover, the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative will find a befitting expression in the policy, sources had earlier told FE. Already, the commerce ministry has set a target to bring down India’s elevated logistics costs–long blamed for eroding the competitiveness of exporters—to 8% in five years from the current 13-14% of gross domestic product (GDP). The new FTP will come at a time when goods exporters are grappling with a slowdown in demand from key markets, such as the US, the EU and China. While services exports continue to perform well and are expected to beat the record $300-billion target for FY23, merchandise exports, of late, have started faltering. Having witnessed robust growth earlier this fiscal, goods exports contracted in two of the past three months, dragging down growth until December this fiscal to 9% and hit $333 billion. The World Trade Organization has trimmed its trade volume growth outlook for 2023 to just 1%, against 3.5% for 2022. It will weigh on Indian export prospects as well.
Source: Financial express
The government should not make any changes in the customs duties for at least five years with a view to promoting domestic manufacturing, economic think tank GTRI said on Wednesday in its pre-Budget recommendations. The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) also suggested retaining import duty on components; removal of inverted duty issues; and reduction of customs duty slabs to 5 from 25 at present to avoid confusion and minimise litigation. These suggestions will prepare India adequately to meet the challenging global economic environment, it said. The think tank noted that countries worldwide have turned inwards to brace for the tough global conditions and against this background India should announce a five-year duty freeze. Any change may upset...production linked incentive scheme (PLI); phased manufacturing programme and other manufacturing initiatives. The government must reduce import duties only when a clear economic case is present," it said. The duty freeze should be co-terminus with the five years of the PLI scheme and it would also convey the message of policy stability. The GTRI also said all electronic and complex engineering devices consist of thousands of components and India will become true manufacture only when components are made here. "But if duty on components is brought to zero, they will be imported resulting in simple assembly of final products in India. Most firms doing this will On reducing customs duty slabs, it said India has more than 26 slabs for customs duties ranging from zero to 150 per cent. In addition, there are over 100 specific or mixed-duty slabs. "Too many duty slabs result in different duties for similar items, leading to classification disputes and expensive litigation. This also makes the automated processing of documents difficult," it said. In the Budget for 2023-24, the government must compress the duty slabs to 5. "Already 85 per cent of tariff lines (or product categories) are covered under six duty categories - 5 per cent, 7.5 per cent, 10 per cent, 15 per cent, 20 per cent, and 30 per cent. A beginning may be made for industrial products," it said. It added that reduction in number of duty slabs will immediately enhance transparency of the system, reduce classification disputes, and allow machine processing of documents. Budget 2023-24 is scheduled to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1. Former Indian Trade Service officer Ajay Srivastava is the co-founder of GTRI. He took voluntary retirement from Government of India in March 2022. He has a rich experience in trade policy making, and issues related to WTO (World Trade Organization) and free trade agreements.
Source: Economic Times
Britain's trade minister in charge of negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA) with India says clinching a highquality deal is among her top priorities for the year, while admitting the talks had hit a "bit of an impasse" which she broke by flying to New Delhi last leaders at Lancaster House in London on Tuesday, UK Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch insisted the FTA talks are now "back on track". It comes after the Diwali 2022 deadline for the FTA set by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was missed last October amid political turmoil in Britain. "Some of you will know I was a software engineer and a systems analyst before I became a politician. That means I'm a problem solver at heart," said Badenoch. "So when our Indian trade talks hit a bit of an impasse, I didn't pick up the phone, I got on a plane. That deal's not done yet, but it's back on track," she said. Badenoch was in New Delhi in early December to hold talks with her counterpart, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and kick off the sixth round of FTA talks. The seventh round is expected in the UK in the coming weeks, with both sides reluctant to set a new deadline for completing the negotiations. "We will seal high-quality deals with India and CPTPP [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership] - they have a combined population of nearly 2 billion consumers - opening exciting opportunities in fast-growing markets for years to come," Badenoch said. "But I want to be clear that just signing on the dotted line is not the objective. These deals will only be agreed if they are the right deals for the people of this country. Bringing in jobs and investment to left-behind communities and capitalising on those areas in which we specialise," she added. With reference to the work being done by her Department for International flagged the example of a north-west England pet food company. The Lancashire firm called VetPlus reportedly approached the DIT recently over a "paperwork problem" in selling their pet food products into India. "We fixed it. And the company now expects to do GBP 1.5 million of additional business over the next five years. This is where my team comes in," she declared. Laying out her plans for 2023, the trade minister vowed to remove trade barriers, knocking down "100 unnecessary blockers" standing in the way of helping UK businesses sell more and grow more, creating new jobs and paying higher wages. "The UK is a leading destination for foreign investment. However, this position is not a given. There is fierce global competition for every pound of finance. I want to make the UK the most attractive place to invest in Europe, enticing companies from across the world to put their money into communities across the country," she said. According to official UK government data, India-UK bilateral trade currently stands at around GBP 29.6 billion a year. Both sides formally launched FTA negotiations at the start of last year with the ambition to significantly boost that two-way exchange.
Source: Economic Times
With a V-shaped recovery following the pandemic shocks, India's run of success continues and her economy is anticipated to repeat a similar growth trajectory in 2023. The World Bank's revision of Indian GDP growth projections from 6.4 per cent to 6.9 per cent in the current fiscal year is one among the many affirmations Indian policies and reforms have received in recent times The World Bank's India Country Director, Auguste Tano Kouame, credited India's strong macroeconomic fundamentals for the "remarkably resilient" economy. According to the government of India's own projections, India will register a growth of 7 per cent in the 2022-2023 Financial Year. This is no small feat considering that many countries world over are grappling with multi-faceted economic headwinds, according to the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. The country's nominal GDP is also estimated to grow by 15.4 per cent, according to the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation. Economists say the government's policy reforms---the most effective being the Production-Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) and the PM Gati Shakti---have proven instrumental in achieving favourable results for the Indian economy. "Production -Linked Incentives are very useful to increase manufacturing exports. Absolutely no doubt that it will be a huge part of the shift of manufacturing from a concentrated region of the world to India and other places and India will be a huge beneficiary of such policies", says author and investor, Harsh Madhusudan. India has successfully balanced welfare schemes and infrastructure expansion. India was able to ensure food security to millions of families, especially since the pandemic outbreak, while the country's hard infrastructure has witnessed a total transformation in the past few years. The construction of expressways at a record pace, coupled with new freight corridors are set to accelerate the pace of the already flourishing Brand India. India's goal is to reduce her logistics costs by 6 percentage points from 14 per cent to 8 per cent in the next five years. This would ensure that logistics play the role of a growth engine in the Indian economy, according to National Logistics Policy. Improved logistics will add to India's improved image as an investment destination, thanks to efforts at easing foreign direct investment rules (FDI). India is expected to receive, for the first time ever, 100 billion USD in FDI this financial year. From renewable energy to real estate...from fintech to automobiles, and from healthcare to hospitality, Indian sectors across the board are poised to take big leaps in times to come. Experts say India's balanced fiscal approach of major infrastructural development coupled with economic reforms, will provide the country with the great momentum needed to accomplish its economic goals. Many predict that India will become one of the most sought after markets in the world. India is on track to become the world's third-largest economy in under a decade from now. India has also set the target of becoming a developed country by 2047. In order to meet this goal, the Indian economy will have to consistently grow at an average rate of around 8 per cent per annum. Some financial bodies have forecast that India will also be affected next year by the global recessionary trends. However, the Indian economy was not predicted to have rebounded from the pandemic as quickly as it had. Brand India cannot be counted out. Sustained integrated efforts by the government, private players, organized and unorganized sectors, and firms big and small have ensured India's steady progression. The Indian economy has defied post pandemic predictions. Brand India is not on path to slow down.
Source: Economic times
The ups and downs in demand around the world will continue especially in the backdrop of the current economic crisis, but we have to be strategic. Let us start by thinking a little differently about managing our RMG industry, so that we can handle ourselves in any situation, rather than being swept away in the current When Bangladesh's garment industry was beginning to recover and turn itself around in the changing world after Covid-19, the Russia-Ukraine war changed the dynamics of the economy around the world. The unbridled price inflation of daily essentials brought hardship to public life. With the increase in energy supply and its cost, people all around the world were forced to rein in the cost of their daily life. Sales of clothing stores decreased and brands continued to stockpile mountains of products. At the same time as a garment-producing country, our orders continued to decrease. These ups and downs in demand around the world will continue, but we have to be strategic. Let's start by thinking a little differently about managing our industry so that we can handle ourselves in any situation rather than being swept away in the current. To equip ourselves with sustainable, self-reliant and situational market management we need to rethink the following strategies for managing the industry.
Capacity-based management or profit-based management
We generally take orders based on production capacity in our industrial operations. For example, if we can produce ten lakh pieces of clothing in a month, we negotiate with the buyer accordingly. In most cases, 60-80% of the orders we have taken are on a profit basis while the remaining orders are taken at a loss even though we try to fulfil our capacity. What happens is that we subsidise the orders that we make a profit from and ship the orders that are running at a loss. Our logic is that if the order is fulfilled without losing the workers, the loss will be less. This is a wrong strategy. We should now say 'no' to the loss orders and only accept orders that are even marginally profitable. You don't have to pay if the machine is sitting idle, but you have to pay if the worker is sitting idle. In other words, with a profit-based management strategy, you will be in a better position than taking orders at a loss with subsidies even if you reduce the profit. Your mental health will be better. Your workers will have job security. But with a capacity-based management system, you will always be in danger and your workers will always be in fear of losing their jobs.
Employment growth or worker's quality of life — which comes first
We, industrialists, are not contracted to the government to increase employment every year. But it is our responsibility to take care of the workers we employ. That is to pay their salaries on time according to our ability; guarantee their rights; provide security to their family and socio-economic situations; there is no justification for boasting only about increasing the number of employees without ensuring 100% provision of social justice and protection etc. As per our current strategy, there is a lot of tension and we end up destroying the market ecosystem by taking orders without the profit needed to pay them on time. Due to this, we cannot ensure the fair price of the product from the buyer.
Buyer dependence or export diversification
Many of our factories depend on a small number of customers. Some of these buyers or reputed brands also give them work throughout the year. But the problem is that when the global situation worsens and their sales decline, they cannot ensure "ethical purchasing practice" even if they want to. They regularly stop production, push back shipment dates, stop placing new orders, etc, this in turn affects the producers. Therefore, the number of buyers should be increased and the necessary marketing should be strengthened. Factories that do not have their own marketing team to provide services are in a worse state. They often work through middlemen such as buying houses or other means where they have very little bargaining power. So in addition to the work done through buying houses, the initiative should be taken to increase the business directly to the buyer by developing a marketing circle. Product diversification and export market diversification are matters that need attention. In order to create a versatile customer, it is necessary to continue to try to produce new products. By entering new markets, we can reduce our dependence on specific buyers which will sustain our business. In terms of product diversification, we need to increase the diversification of fabrics and value addition to products. We need to produce orders that are challenging to manufacture. Product versatility will help increase your customer base and only this strategy can sustain your factory for a long time.
Investment in manufacturing or investment in backward industries
One of our negative strategies in industrial management strategy is solely increasing investment in the sewing lines. Based on unwritten verbal assurance or projection of the customer we increase the capacity of the sewing line day by day. Even by borrowing money, the number of production lines has been increased so that we can ensure the supply as per the demand of our customers. But today, as our demand has shrunk, we are in dire straits with this massive workforce. Workers feel insecure about their salary and they are in the dark about how they will be looked after. If salaries are not paid on time, worker unrest will rise and the situation will become volatile. Print and electronic media will publish negative reports about the industries. But Bangladesh still has to import 60% of its raw materials from China. Instead of being self-reliant by investing in backward industries, we invested towards cash flow in an unplanned manner. The result is today's lament. There has indeed been a big jump in our accessories industry in the backward industries, but the real area was the textile industry where we could not invest as expected. Many may rationalise with some "ifs and buts" for the sake of argument, but at the end of the day, we have been beaten by business tactics. Vietnam and India have taken advantage of this. If we could at least set up some industries in textile mills for synthetic fabrics, at least we would have more diversity in today's climate. Moreover, we could invest in technical textiles, high-end fashion textiles, etc. So let's not increase the production of the sewing lines, instead, let's invest more in fabric production. This strategy will help us to produce high-value products in future. For the sake of argument, one may say that our gas supply is insufficient. But I want to say that within our existing infrastructure, many new fabrics are possible that we may not have tried. In the time our factory remains idle throughout the year, many new products can be produced within the infrastructure. But we have never felt the need to explore this.
Productivity comes first or supply of raw materials comes first
Productivity in our factories has been identified as a major problem for many years. We all deal with it more or less. But have you ever noticed that we only spend 10% of the time on an order on manufacturing it? That is if we accept an order for delivery in 60 days, then the last 6 of these 60 days are spent on manufacturing the product while 54 days were spent only on acquiring the raw material and the buyer approval process. The result is: on the day we go to production we find that some work has not been approved or some raw materials have not been delivered properly. In other words, we have not been able to establish any accountability for the productivity of 54 days in our management. Meanwhile, we spend crores of taka to increase the productivity of the remaining 6 days. We have to make a drastic change in strategy here. In my experience, I have found that the timely delivery of correct raw materials and completion of the approval process in time automatically increases productivity. Our main problem is in the supply chain, not productivity.
Production planning or planned production system
We need another strategic shift. And that is the planned production system. We now operate according to production plans, most of which are not completed on time. It means, on the day when we are supposed to produce the order, we cannot do it according to our plan. Our strategy should be a planned production system, so that on the day that an order is planned, it must be produced. If we only do this, I can guarantee you will not have to invest in new sewing machines in your factory. You will automatically acquire 20-30% new capacity without requiring any new investment.
Increasing export volume or preventing river pollution
Despite having an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in all dyeing mills in our country, the river water in our industrial areas is polluted and unusable. We have been dumping our waste into the river while avoiding the eyes of regulatory agencies to save costs. We need to become a responsible manufacturing plant before increasing export earnings. We should no longer produce by destroying people, the environment and the ecosystem etc. We need to be aware now and plan our actions and strategies accordingly. Finally, we have to establish ourselves as a responsible factory, after 2029 we will no longer get GSP benefits. Moreover, the European Union is making new legislation that is aimed at 'protecting human rights' and creating a 'sustainable environment'. Availing GSP+ benefits will also have new conditions, and more stringent announcements will soon be made on 'Climate Change', 'Social Justice', 'Collective Bargaining' etc. We must therefore be prepared with new approaches, new strategies and new innovative energies.
Source: Tbs news
The United Nations forecast on Wednesday that global economic growth will fall significantly to 1.9 per cent this year as a result of the food and energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, persistently high inflation and the climate emergency. Painting a gloomy and uncertain economic outlook, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said the current global economic slowdown “cuts across both developed and developing countries, with many facing risks of recession in 2023.” “A broad-based and severe slowdown of the global economy looms large amid high inflation, aggressive monetary tightening, and heightened uncertainties,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a foreword to the 178-page report. The report said this year’s 1.9 per cent economic growth forecast — down from an estimated 3 per cent in 2022 — is one of the lowest growth rates in recent decades. But it projects a moderate pick-up to 2.7 per cent in 2024 if inflation gradually abates and economic headwinds start to subside. In its annual report earlier this month, the World Bank which lends money to poorer countries for development projects, cut its growth forecast nearly in half, from it previous projection of 3 per cent to just 1.7 per cent. The International Monetary Fund, which provides loans to needy countries, projected in October that global growth would slow from 6 per cent in 2021 to 3.2 per cent in 2022 and 2.7 per cent in 2023. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos that 2023 will be a difficult year, but stuck by the projection and said “we don’t expect a global recession.” Shantanu Mukherjee, director of the economic analysis and policy division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, highlighted the growing income inequality in the world at a news conference launching the report. Between 2019 and 2021, he said, average incomes for the top 10 per cent rose by 1.2 per cent while the incomes of the lowest 40 per cent fell by 0.5 per cent. “The top 10 per cent now earns on average over 42 times what the lowest percentiles” earn, Mukherjee said. According to the UN report, this year “growth momentum has weakened in the United States, the European Union and other developed economies, adversely affecting the rest of the world economy.” In the United States, GDP is projected to expand by only 0.4 per cent in 2023 after estimated growth of 1.8 per cent in 2022, the UN said. And many European countries are projected to experience “a mild recession” with the war in Ukraine heading into its second year on February 14, high energy costs, and inflation and tighter financial conditions depressing household consumption and investment. The economies in the 27-nation European Union are forecast to grow by just 0.2 per cent in 2023, down from an estimated 3.3 per cent in 2022, the UN said. And in the United Kingdom, which left the EU three years ago, GDP is projected to contract by 0.8 per cent in 2023, continuing a recession that began in the second half of 2022, it said. With China’s government abandoning its zero-COVID policy late last year and easing monetary and fiscal policies, the UN forecast that its economy, which expanded by only 3 per cent in 2022, will accelerate to 4.8 per cent this year. “But the reopening of the economy is expected to be bumpy,” the UN said. ”Growth will likely remain well below the pre-pandemic rate of 6-6.5 per cent.” The UN report said Japan’s economy is expected to be among the better-performing among developed countries this year, with GDP forecast to increase by 1.5 per cent, slightly lower than last year’s estimated growth of 1.6 per cent. Across east Asia, the UN said economic recovery remains fragile though GDP growth in 2023 is forecast to reach 4.4 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent last year, and stronger than in other regions. In South Asia, the UN forecast average GDP growth will slow from 5.6 per cent last year to 4.8 per cent this year as a result of high food and energy prices, “monetary tightening and fiscal vulnerabilities.” But growth in India, which is expected to overtake China this year as the world’s most populous nation, is expected to remain strong at 5.8 per cent, slightly lower than the estimated 6.4 per cent in 2022, “as higher interest rates and a global slowdown weigh on investments and exports,” the UN report said. In Western Asia, oil-producing countries are benefiting from high prices and rising output as well as a revival in tourism, the UN said. But economies that aren’t oil producers remain weak “given tightening access to international finance and severe fiscal constraints,” and average growth in the region is projected to slow from an estimated 6.4 per cent in 2022 to 3.5 per cent this year. The UN said Africa has been hit “by multiple shocks, including weaker demand from key trading partners (especially China and Europe), a sharp increase in energy and food prices, rapidly rising borrowing costs and adverse weather events.” One result, it said, is mounting debt-servicing burdens which have forced a growing number of African governments to seek bilateral and multilateral support. The UN projected economic growth in Africa to slow from an estimated 4.1 per cent in 2022 to 3.8 per cent this year. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the UN said the outlook “remains challenging,” citing labor market prospects, stubbornly high inflation and other issues. It forecast that regional growth will slow to just 1.4 per cent in 2023 from an estimated expansion of 3.8 per cent in 2022. “The region’s largest economies – Argentina, Brazil and Mexico – are expected to grow at very low rates due to tightening financial conditions, weakening exports, and domestic vulnerabilities,” the UN said. For the world’s least developed countries, the UN said growth is projected at 4.4 per cent this year, about the same as last year but significantly below the UN’s target of 7 per cent by 2030. (AP)
Source: Financial express
INTERNATIONAL
The United Nations forecast on Wednesday that global economic growth will fall significantly to 1.9 per cent this year as a result of the food and energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, persistently high inflation and the climate emergency. Painting a gloomy and uncertain economic outlook, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said the current global economic slowdown “cuts across both developed and developing countries, with many facing risks of recession in 2023.” “A broad-based and severe slowdown of the global economy looms large amid high inflation, aggressive monetary tightening, and heightened uncertainties,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a foreword to the 178-page report. The report said this year’s 1.9 per cent economic growth forecast — down from an estimated 3 per cent in 2022 — is one of the lowest growth rates in recent decades. But it projects a moderate pick-up to 2.7 per cent in 2024 if inflation gradually abates and economic headwinds start to subside. In its annual report earlier this month, the World Bank which lends money to poorer countries for development projects, cut its growth forecast nearly in half, from it previous projection of 3 per cent to just 1.7 per cent. The International Monetary Fund, which provides loans to needy countries, projected in October that global growth would slow from 6 per cent in 2021 to 3.2 per cent in 2022 and 2.7 per cent in 2023. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said at last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos that 2023 will be a difficult year, but stuck by the projection and said “we don’t expect a global recession.” Shantanu Mukherjee, director of the economic analysis and policy division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, highlighted the growing income inequality in the world at a news conference launching the report. Between 2019 and 2021, he said, average incomes for the top 10 per cent rose by 1.2 per cent while the incomes of the lowest 40 per cent fell by 0.5 per cent. “The top 10 per cent now earns on average over 42 times what the lowest percentiles” earn, Mukherjee said. According to the UN report, this year “growth momentum has weakened in the United States, the European Union and other developed economies, adversely affecting the rest of the world economy.” In the United States, GDP is projected to expand by only 0.4 per cent in 2023 after estimated growth of 1.8 per cent in 2022, the UN said. And many European countries are projected to experience “a mild recession” with the war in Ukraine heading into its second year on February 14, high energy costs, and inflation and tighter financial conditions depressing household consumption and investment. The economies in the 27-nation European Union are forecast to grow by just 0.2 per cent in 2023, down from an estimated 3.3 per cent in 2022, the UN said. And in the United Kingdom, which left the EU three years ago, GDP is projected to contract by 0.8 per cent in 2023, continuing a recession that began in the second half of 2022, it said. With China’s government abandoning its zero-COVID policy late last year and easing monetary and fiscal policies, the UN forecast that its economy, which expanded by only 3 per cent in 2022, will accelerate to 4.8 per cent this year. “But the reopening of the economy is expected to be bumpy,” the UN said. ”Growth will likely remain well below the pre-pandemic rate of 6-6.5 per cent.” The UN report said Japan’s economy is expected to be among the better-performing among developed countries this year, with GDP forecast to increase by 1.5 per cent, slightly lower than last year’s estimated growth of 1.6 per cent. Across east Asia, the UN said economic recovery remains fragile though GDP growth in 2023 is forecast to reach 4.4 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent last year, and stronger than in other regions. In South Asia, the UN forecast average GDP growth will slow from 5.6 per cent last year to 4.8 per cent this year as a result of high food and energy prices, “monetary tightening and fiscal vulnerabilities.” But growth in India, which is expected to overtake China this year as the world’s most populous nation, is expected to remain strong at 5.8 per cent, slightly lower than the estimated 6.4 per cent in 2022, “as higher interest rates and a global slowdown weigh on investments and exports,” the UN report said. In Western Asia, oil-producing countries are benefiting from high prices and rising output as well as a revival in tourism, the UN said. But economies that aren’t oil producers remain weak “given tightening access to international finance and severe fiscal constraints,” and average growth in the region is projected to slow from an estimated 6.4 per cent in 2022 to 3.5 per cent this year. The UN said Africa has been hit “by multiple shocks, including weaker demand from key trading partners (especially China and Europe), a sharp increase in energy and food prices, rapidly rising borrowing costs and adverse weather events.” One result, it said, is mounting debt-servicing burdens which have forced a growing number of African governments to seek bilateral and multilateral support. The UN projected economic growth in Africa to slow from an estimated 4.1 per cent in 2022 to 3.8 per cent this year. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the UN said the outlook “remains challenging,” citing labor market prospects, stubbornly high inflation and other issues. It forecast that regional growth will slow to just 1.4 per cent in 2023 from an estimated expansion of 3.8 per cent in 2022. “The region’s largest economies – Argentina, Brazil and Mexico – are expected to grow at very low rates due to tightening financial conditions, weakening exports, and domestic vulnerabilities,” the UN said. For the world’s least developed countries, the UN said growth is projected at 4.4 per cent this year, about the same as last year but significantly below the UN’s target of 7 per cent by 2030. (AP)
Source: Financial express
The Commission has launched a multilingual campaign – ReSet The Trend – to engage Europeans in the battle against fast fashion and raise public awareness about the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles. Millions of tonnes of clothes are produced, worn and thrown away each year, equivalent to 11.3 kg per person. Every second, the equivalent of a lorry load of clothes is burnt or buried in landfill. Under the motto, the campaign attempts to address this problem, raising awareness about the environmental, social, economic and health-related benefits of transforming the textiles sector and the opportunities that sustainable fashion opens up for both businesses and consumers. Building on the success of the European Year of Youth, the campaign is meant to empower young Europeans to become role models and make fast fashion out of fashion. At a kick-off event in Antwerp today, designers, industry representatives, fashion sustainability experts, policy makers, young professionals from the textiles sector and students from around the EU will share the best sustainable fashion practices in Europe, discuss how to avoid greenwashing and the role of circular business models in driving fast fashion out of fashion. They will also look at how to address the numerous challenges this industry faces and accelerate the implementation of the EU Textiles Strategy. Yesterday, CommissionerSinkevičius participated in a Youth Dialogue on transforming the textiles sector. Fourteen young people from across the EU and Ukraine, including designers and environmental activists, discussed EU policy as well as opportunities and challenges they face in the sector. They were engaging on the EU action on the textiles agenda, challenges faced by companies and SMEs, the social dimension of the textile industry, as well as the international angle and other areas of interest to young people. Making textiles circular and sustainable is a whole-of-society endeavour. Find out how you can become a role model on the campaign website, download the social media filters, and join the conversation on social media using the hashtag.
Background
Textiles and clothing employ 1.5 million Europeans, creating local jobs, business opportunities and more possibilities to be creative. Circular fashion benefits small business in particular, enabling them to offer new services, such as restoration, customisation and tailoring, and providing an increased customer base. At the same time, costs can be reduced due to savings from better resource productivity and risk reduction from improved inventory management. The Pact for Skills roundtable with the textiles ecosystem held with Commission and industry representatives discussed the skills needs in this sector. The proposed European Year of Skills 2023 will help to give a new impetus for re- and upskilling and further advance this aim. The textiles sector is also one of the least sustainable industries worldwide. A resource intensive and wasteful sector, it is among the top three pressures on water and land use and the top five for raw materials use and greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Global textiles production almost doubled between 2000 and 2015, and the consumption of clothing and footwear is expected to increase by 63% by 2030, from 62 million tonnes now to 102 million tonnes in 2030. To make production and consumption of textiles more sustainable, the EU is redesigning the fashion industry so consumers can make more sustainable choices when shopping for clothes. The EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles, adopted by the European Commission on 30 March 2022, addresses the production and consumption of textiles, whilst recognising the importance of the textiles sector. It implements the commitments of the European Green Deal, the new circular economy action plan and the industrial strategy.
Source: Environment
A new brand embracing technology, textiles and fashion has developed a collection that will bypass AI and facial recognition. The print-heavy pieces confuses artificial intelligence cameras and stops them from recognising the wearer. Developed by Italian startup Capable, the brand said its mission is to offer a high-tech product that opens debate on current issues that will shape our future. Called the Manifesto Collection, it is the first range of its kind where knitted garments shield facial recognition. A patent in 2021 was issued for the fabric’s industrial intervention.
How it works
The knitwear features an algorithm that is integrated into the texture designed to be worn without losing effectiveness, blending perfectly with the volumes of the body. Instead of seeing faces, AI systems will see dogs, zebras, giraffes, or small knitted people inside the fabric. With this collection Capable addresses the issue of privacy, opening the discussion on the importance of protection from the misuse of biometric recognition cameras. In a statement the brand said it reflects “a problem that has become increasingly present in our daily lives, involving citizens around the world, and that, if neglected, could freeze the rights of the individual including freedom of expression, association, and free movement in public spaces.”
Source: Fashion united
South Korea and Cambodia agreed Friday to enhance bilateral trade and investment by maximizing their free trade deal, which came into force a month earlier, Seoul's industry ministry said. The discussions were made during a business and investment forum held in Seoul that brought together Seoul's Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun, Cambodia's Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak, and government and corporate officials from the two nations, according to the Ministry of Trade, Investment and Energy. The bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) took effect on Dec. 1, 2022, which calls for a higher level of market opening than the existing South Korea-ASEAN FTA and the multilateral trade pact of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the ministry said. The RCEP is a regional trade pact that covers 10 ASEAN nations and its five dialogue partners -- South Korea, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. "The bilateral agreement laid the groundwork for the expansion of bilateral trade in a wide range of fields from textile and clothing to cars and machinery, and to agro and fishery food," Ahn said during the forum. "The two nations will be able to further strengthen cooperation on digital economy, clean energy and various other sectors to help advance Cambodia's industrial structure, and to jointly achieve net-zero goals," he added. Ahn also said South Korea will support Cambodia's technology development through official development assistance programs. Bilateral trade came to US$1.05 billion in 2022, marking a drastic surge from $54 million in 1997, when the two nations re-established diplomatic relationship in 1997, according to government data. They initially established diplomatic ties in 1970, but the relations were severed in 1975 when Cambodia was communized.
Source: The en.yna.co.kr
The EU is struggling to get to grips with how to re-use wood, plastic, and clothes in the so-called "circular economy", which reduces the strain on the extraction of vital natural resources. According to an analysis from the European Environment Agency (EEA), only aluminium, paper, and glass have established good enough markets to be re-used. The circular economy refers to maintaining products, materials, and resources for as long as possible by returning them into the product cycle at the end of their use, while minimising the generation of waste. That means extracting still working components from electronic appliances that may have reached the end of their lives and using them elsewhere instead of discarding them for good. The same applies to textiles, wood, and plastic. Ireland has a poor record when it comes to the circular economy, data show. According to the European Commission's data analysis wing Eurostat, almost 12% of material resources used in the EU came from recycled waste materials. However, in Ireland, the figure was one of the worst in the EU at just 2%, similar to Finland, and only beating Romania at 1%. The EEA's latest report said of the eight most common secondary material markets, only three of those — aluminium, paper, and glass — are functioning well. "These markets provide credible and continuous information to market stakeholders, they are international and open, and the recycled materials have a significant market share, compared with primary materials, the EEA report notes," the EEA said. On the other hand, second-hand markets for wood, plastics, biowaste, construction and demolition waste, and textiles are not performing well. The main problems in these markets are their small size compared with primary materials, weak demand, and lack of common specifications, which reduces the quality of materials for industrial use, the EEA said. The agency said incentives should be given to design products that are easier to recycle, as well as strengthening recycling targets. There should be increased recycled content in new products and new technical standards for recycled materials, it added. It also advocated using taxes to level price competition with primary raw materials. In December, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said rising levels of waste in Ireland make it difficult to increase recycling, adding the country is in danger of missing EU municipal waste and plastic packaging recycling targets in 2025. Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability Sharon Finegan said trends show Ireland is going in the wrong direction. "Our rising levels of waste are unsustainable and immediate steps must be taken to address these trends," she said.
Source: Irish examiner
The country’s top fashion designers, as well as up-and-coming stylists and student designers, have risen to the challenge of designing chic, hip and fashionable creations made from Philippine textiles, in a fashion event that served as highlight of the Philippine Textile Industry Stakeholders’ Conference at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City yesterday. Organized by the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Textile Research Institute, the event was a successful collaborative partnership between the DOST-PTRI and the Philippine fashion industry in support of the country’s textiles. A highlight of the fashion show was the modeling of the uniforms by Pablo Cabahug for the House of Representatives, JC Buendia for the National Economic and Development Authority, Kingsmen for DOST, Jor-El Espina for University of the Philippines and Albert Andrada for the Civil Service Commission. “The beautiful dresses and fashion items showcased in the Philippine Tropical Fabrics celebration organized by DOST-PTRI highlights the amazing products that can result (from) collaborative efforts (of) DOST researchers, stakeholders from the industry and communities.?Congratulations to the designers who utilized Philippine tropical fabrics to create the beautiful dresses and wearables, and to the DOST-PTRI and partner weavers for the innovative fabrics,” Science Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. told The STAR. The PTRI has recently issued a challenge to the country’s fashion industry to come up with designs for uniforms of government officials and employees using Filipino-made textile fibers from pineapple leaf, abaca, banana and Philippine silk. “Innovation powers the future of the textile industry. We hope to continuously empower our farmers, community weavers and small businesses who are an integral part of the value chain through S&T programs and projects. The blended textiles made from locally sourced fibers is an illustration on the ability of science to contribute to national economic progress,” he added. The institute is tasked to create and innovate textiles and auxiliaries in support of the industry. Hinged on the requirement of Republic Act 9242, PTRI has developed yarns and textiles since 2005. These are yarns containing at least 20 percent pineapple, banana or abaca fibers in blend with polyester, woven in the mill with polyester warp, effectively meeting the five percent by weight minimum natural textile fiber requirement in the fabric stage. Another significant textile technology is the development of Philippine Silk. DOST invested in a Silk Research and Innovation Hub in Misamis Oriental. To keep Philippine silk cost competitive, DOST developed a process to generate seven kg of raw silk per day, requiring 15 hectares of mulberry farm providing additional income of P16,000 per month to almost 60 families with at least one-eighth hectare farm. Also, the Silk Innovation Hub in Kalinga serves the silk production in Cordillera and in 2023 two more will be launched – in Aklan and in Negros Occidental. DOST has also sustained a genomic project to maintain the productivity and vigor of the largest silkworm germplasm in the Philippines. Through these efforts, natural textiles have expanded from wearable items to nonwoven applications for filtration and automotive, bags and footwear through drylaid textiles under nonwoven textiles R&D. Developing natural dyes is another important component in textile transformation. DOST focuses on this to prevent toxic byproducts in the processing of textile and the income opportunities given to local farmers and manufacturers. Through DOST investments, the Natural Dyes Center that serves as the core facility for natural dyes R&D and product development, is able to link 11 NatDyes hubs all over the Philippines. DOST aims to add three more NatDyes hubs this year. A large-scale indigo dyeing machine is already also working in PTRI. The conference brought together stakeholders from the industry, government and academe and highlighted the significant role of collaborations in enabling innovation-led and creative studies for textile-garment and allied industries. An exhibit of design creations from Filipino artisans was also featured.
Source: The philstar.com
Cash-strapped Pakistan‘s currency plunged Thursday against the dollar after the government indicated it was ready to comply with tough conditions set by the International Monetary Fund for the next tranche of its bailout package. Pakistan is seeking a crucial installment of USD 1.1 billion from the fund — part of its USD 6 billion bailout package — to avoid default. Talks with the IMF on reviving the bailout stalled in the past months. The rupee closed at 230 to the dollar on Wednesday. It slipped further, trading at 255 for USD 1 within hours of the market reopening Thursday. The government did not immediately comment on the developments. Analyst Ahsan Rasool says the rupee’s decline is a sign that Pakistan was close to securing the much-needed loan from the IMF. The rupee’s slide comes days after Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said his government was ready to adhere to the “tough conditions of the IMF” to revive the USD 6 billion bailout package, which has been on hold for the past several months. Pakistan is currently grappling with one of the country’s worst economic crisis amid dwindling foreign exchange reserves. That has raised fears that Pakistan could default, although Sharif insists it pulled the country from the brink of the default when it took over last year. Sharif has blamed Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government for the economic malaise. Khan was ousted in a no-confidence in Parliament in April, and has since been campaigning for early elections.
Source: Financial express
