VZCZCXRO9708
OO RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHLH #0209/01 3091044
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 051044Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL LAHORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4213
INFO RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD IMMEDIATE 4910
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI PRIORITY 2171
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR PRIORITY 1851
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL IMMEDIATE 0514
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0217
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0894
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 5373

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 LAHORE 000209 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON BEXP BTIO EAGR EAID ECIN EIND ELAB ETRD
PGOV, PREL, PK 
SUBJECT: NEW TEXTILE POLICY WON'T CURE WHAT AILS PAKISTAN'S INDUSTRY 
 
REF: A. LAHORE 207 
     ¶B. ISLAMABAD 1901 
 
¶1.   (SBU) Summary: Pakistan's 2009-2014 federal textile policy 
correctly identifies and seeks to rectify many of the sector's 
weaknesses, but experts predict it will not deliver the desired 
transformation of the industry.  Despite accounting for 40 
percent of all industrial employment and 8.5 percent of Gross 
Domestic Product, much of the garment and textile business 
remains focused on low value-added market segments and is 
hampered by fragmentation and fragile infrastructure.  Through 
the new textile policy, the first of its kind for this critical 
sector, the government hopes to increase value addition from 
$1,000 per bale of raw cotton to $2,000 per bale, expand 
production capacity, and double the industry's employment with 
three million new jobs.  Policy mechanisms include subsidized 
loans for technology upgrades, industrial estates and cluster 
development, training, tax-exempt exports, tax rebates for 
employing women, and a host of subsector initiatives.  While 
healthy businesses would certainly benefit from these types of 
measures, the government of Pakistan appears to have bowed to 
pressure from the textile lobby and the overriding need to 
create jobs, and will continue to subsidize the lower end of the 
industry rather than drive much-needed change.  End Summary. 
 
- - - 
PAKISTAN'S MAJOR EXPORT INDUSTRY NEEDS MENDING 
- - - 
 
¶2.   (SBU) According to government data, the textile sector 
represents 8.5 percent of GDP and generates more than  50 
percent of total export value (down from over 58 percent in 
2007).  The Ministry of Textiles claims that the industry still 
accounts for 40 percent of industrial employment in the country. 
 As reported in Ref A, while the industry has several globally 
competitive firms, the bulk of the business is mired in 
low-value added market segments and hampered by fragmentation 
and fragile infrastructure.  Decades of policy supported the 
industry as an engine of job growth, but demand for labor is 
intertwined with the sector's underlying weaknesses.  The 
industry needs significant restructuring to remain competitive. 
Federal Textiles Minister Rana Khan understands the structural 
weaknesses of the sector and outlined many of them when 
introducing the new national textile policy. 
 
- - - 
TEXTILE POLICY GOALS AND OVERALL TRADE 
- - - 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The textile policy objective is to double value 
addition by 2014, from $1,000 per bale of cotton to $2,000. 
Federal Textiles Secretary Waqar Khan said that the government 
expects to achieve this goal while actually increasing total 
production capacity, raising export value from $9.7 billion to 
$25 billion in five years and doubling textile employment with 
three million new jobs.   (Note: The export growth target for 
textiles represents between 77 and 100 percent of the annual 
export growth goals set out in the 2009-2012 general trade 
policy announced in July (Ref B).)  End Note. 
 
- - - 
POLICY SPECIFICS: SUPPORTING THE INDUSTRY 
- - - 
 
¶4.  (U) The policy contains seven industry-wide "immediate 
measures," 13 longer-term broad interventions, and 15 
subsector-specific initiatives toward achieving these goals. 
 
     - Immediate measures include State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) 
subsidies for existing commercial loans, low cost SPB financing 
for filling export orders, and a one-year, no-payment grace 
period on all industry debt to private and public banks (one 
time cost of $91 million);  a two-year exemption from local 
taxes on various textile and garment sector transactions, 
presumably either by replacing lost revenue to the taxing 
jurisdiction or by providing rebates to the tax payer ($532 
million); and "priority" in gas and electricity deliveries (not 
priced). 
 
     - Broad, longer-term interventions provide subsidized loans 
 
LAHORE 00000209  002 OF 003 
 
 
for technology upgrades ($19 million in 2009, rising to $206 
million by 2014); tax exemptions for exports, tax exemptions on 
imported products incorporated into exports (not priced); 
"removing regulatory bottlenecks" (not priced); developing 
industrial estates and clusters (not priced); and a skill 
training program ($12 million per year). 
 
     - Significant subsector initiatives include creating an 
anti-child labor certification for carpet manufacturers, and 
subsidies to firms that hire women and handicapped workers to 
offset payroll taxes ($24 million the first year, and rising as 
additional subsidized employees are added). 
 
- - - 
BUT WILL THE PLAN WORK? 
- - - 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The price tag for the policy, well over $1 billion 
over five years, is a serious barrier to its successful 
implementation.  A variety of analysts believe the policy is 
deeply flawed because it is dependent on large-scale financing 
that most likely will never be approved.  While Textile 
Secretary Waqar Khan assured Econoffs that the Finance Ministry 
signed off on the policy, just two weeks later Finance Minister 
Tarin publicly endorsed a World Bank call to end all zero rating 
schemes and general tax exemptions. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The failure to deliver regular power to the textile 
sector in the face of ongoing nation-wide blackouts is a serious 
industrial impediment.  Though some public utilities have tried 
to maintain power supplies to industrial estates, they more 
often than not lack the physical grid infrastructure to do so. 
Moreover, Punjab Industrial Estates CEO Sabir Chohan reports 
that the utilities are no longer prioritizing industrial 
customers.  (Note: 98 percent of all garment stitching and 87 
percent of the country's looms depend on public energy 
infrastructure, with the remainder using captive power.  End 
Note.) 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Experts also fear that lack of coordination between 
and among federal and provincial government agencies involved in 
the textile industry will hamstring the application of the 
policy.  Secretary Waqar Khan said that the federal government 
would keep its industrial estates, clusters, and technical 
training activities separate from similar provincial efforts, 
and saw little need for close collaboration.  (Note: Punjab 
province's investment in these approaches has been significant 
but yielded only limited success.  End Note.) 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Detractors claim that the plan, even if fully 
implemented, would not have a meaningful impact on the structure 
of the industry.  World Bank Senior Private Sector Development 
Specialist Anjum Ahmad observed that some policy instruments 
were practical and realistic, such as subsidized technology 
upgrade loans and tax breaks for hiring women and the disabled; 
however, these programs would probably benefit only the more 
sophisticated players in the industry.  Echoing other analysts, 
Ahmad's overall assessment was that the Textile Policy alone 
would do little to change the (lack of) competitiveness of the 
small and medium size enterprises that dominate some parts of 
the industry. 
 
- - - 
COMMENT: SHRINK THE INDUSTRY TO MAKE IT COMPETITIVE 
- - - 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Comment:  While the GOP commendably recognizes some of 
the flaws in its textile and garment industry, especially the 
need to focus on value-addition, the new Textile Policy 
represents more of a wish list of subsidies than a genuine 
strategy for "transforming the sector in five years."  Most 
experts agree that raising value-addition is a wise and 
achievable goal, but realistically the industry will have to 
shed a lot of jobs to get there as the sector consolidates and 
modernizes.   Moreover, Pakistan is already exceedingly reliant 
on textile and garment manufacturing, a point the Ministry of 
Commerce makes frequently and which the recently-adopted trade 
policy seeks to address (ref B).  Yet the Textile Policy 
reflects a combination of pressure from the powerful textile 
 
LAHORE 00000209  003 OF 003 
 
 
lobby, and concern about the overwhelming need to create jobs, 
any jobs.  With this policy document, the Textile Ministry has 
argued for continuing to subsidize the lower end of the industry 
in spite of the opportunity cost, and the government of Pakistan 
appears prepared to prolong the crowding-out effect of favoring 
the textile and garment sector.  Longer-term, this approach will 
have adverse consequences for the diversity and health of 
Pakistan's economy. 
 
¶10. (U) Note:  This cable is a joint production of Embassy 
Islamabad and Consulate General Lahore.  End Note. 
CONROY