To arrest the widening trade deficit as substantial capacity to produce exportable surplus is either fully or partially closed due to high energy cost and other factors, the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) has asked for immediate announcement of textile package as promised by the prime minister earlier.

Talking about export figures, PTEA chairman Ajmal Farooq and vice chairman Muhammad Naeem expressed concern over widening trade deficit and shrinking exports. Quoting figures, they said the country's exports plunged 3.93 per cent to $8.18 billion during July-November this year, which was $334.68 million less than the comparative period of previous year. Compared to this, the import bill increased 8.7 per cent to almost $20 billion in the same period. In absolute terms, the import bill was $1.6 billion more than that in the last year.

They termed high cost of production and un-competitiveness as major hurdles in export growth. They further maintained that if the reasons behind the industrial crisis were not addressed, situation might get alarming further in the coming months while a drop in exports would have dire impact on economy which is already under pressure.