Nepal govt to support garment sector: Finance Minister

05 Aug '13

2 min read

The Government of Nepal would soon launch programmes for the support of the garment sector, Finance Minister Shanker Prasad Koirala has said.

Addressing the 22nd Annual General Meeting of Garment Association-Nepal (GAN), Mr. Koirala said the budget for 2013-14 has programmes to boost the export-oriented industries, and programmes to support the garment sector would be launched soon.

Mr. Uday Raj Pandey, president of GAN, said the Government had decided to provide 2 percent cash incentive for exports to third country (i.e. countries other than India), but had backtracked and provided incentive of only 1 percent last year.

He urged the Government to implement its earlier decision of 2 percent cash incentive to third country exports.

He asked the Government to take up the issue of 12 percent countervailing duty (CVD) with the Indian Government and request for its rollback on Nepali readymade garments.

He also urged the Government to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US, so as to increase Nepali exports to that country.

Garments were once the second-largest export item, after hand-knotted carpets, during 1990-2000, and fetched Np Rs. 13.12 billion at is peak.

However, garment exports declined to Rs. 11.89 billion in 2003-04, and then to Rs. 4.6 billion in 2011-12.

In the first eleven months of Nepali fiscal year 2012-1 3 that began on July 16, 2012, Nepal exported garments worth Rs. 3.33 billion.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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