KARACHI: Leading textile and apparel exporters have urged the prime minister to declare an “export emergency”, warning that a sharp deterioration in the country’s external trade position is threatening economic stability, industrial activity and employment.
In a letter to the prime minister, the Pakistan Textile Council (PTC) said exports fell by more than 14 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in November 2025, marking a fourth consecutive month of contraction. Exports during July-November FY26 declined to $12.8 billion from $13.7 billion a year earlier, while imports surged past $28 billion over the same period.
As a result, the trade deficit widened to nearly $15.5 billion in the first five months of the fiscal year, with November alone recording a gap of $2.86 billion -- 33 per cent higher than a year earlier, the council said.
The PTC said exporters are facing a severe erosion in competitiveness due to rising costs, tax distortions and disparities in energy pricing, pushing many firms to the brink. Without urgent intervention, the industry risks production shutdowns and a loss of international market share, it warned.
The council called on the government to introduce immediate relief measures, including restoring a 1.0 per cent full and final tax regime for exports and withdrawing advance tax. It also urged the authorities to waive the export tax entirely for companies that achieve more than 10 per cent YoY growth in exports.
Other proposals included abolishing the super tax on five major export sectors, withdrawing the gas levy for exporters, and fixing gas and electricity prices at Rs2,600 per MMBtu and Rs24 per unit, respectively, regardless of whether firms use captive power or the national grid. The council also suggested rationalising gas prices for the fertiliser sector, which it said was earning abnormal profits that distort the gas market.
The PTC further called for the immediate restoration of items excluded from the Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS) for duty-free import, action to curb undocumented cotton trade -- either through stricter enforcement or by exempting cotton from sales tax -- and the abolition of SESSI and EOBI contributions for exporters, citing high compliance costs.
In addition, the council urged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to mandate banks to allocate at least 50 per cent of lending to the private sector.
“Pakistan cannot grow its way out of this crisis without exports leading the recovery,” the PTC said, warning that delays would deepen the downturn, accelerate factory closures and undermine the government’s broader objectives of sustainable growth and an eventual exit from the IMF programme.
