'Crisis may cost 42,000 clothing industry jobs' – Finance Minister

20 Feb '09

2 min read

Lesotho, a small country, completely surrounded from all sides by the borders of South Africa is going through the same pain, due to the slowdown in the global markets, as the rest of the countries in the world.

In the budget statement, the Finance and Development Planning Minister of the country, Mr Timothy Thahane said that textile industries of Lesotho will no longer be able to avail of facilities provided by banks in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

He added by saying that the local banks also do not have the expertise, other than through their head offices in Johannesburg, South Africa. The textile industry used to open letters of credit, avail of export-import financing and other sundry facilities from the overseas banks.

He continued by saying that, purchase orders from the US to our clothing industry, has fallen to a trickle. The clothing industry is at the risk of losing 42,000 jobs due to the slowdown in orders from the overseas markets.

The effects of the recession are also being felt by the mining industry, the diamond sector in particular, he said. Mines have also started laying-off workers which was also adding to the woes of the local populace which is dependent on the mining sector for their livelihood.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India