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No takers for textile stimulus package
26 Mar '10
2 min read
The Government of Botswana had announced an incentive scheme to help the local textile and apparel industry, to face the onslaught of the slowdown last year. But as per reports, there have been no takers for the scheme, which according to industry insiders, looks good only on paper.
The government had announced that, companies will be eligible for the incentive scheme which hires back retrenched workers and not for the ones who were still working and it would pay only for each re-employed worker, which did not generate interest amongst the textile fraternity.
However, according to the Executive Director of the Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association (BEMA), Loago Raditedu, the government has now amended the initial agreement and approved P38 million for the textile industry and he now expects that more companies will apply.
The textile and apparel sector was hit hard after the expiry of the Duty Credit Certificate Scheme (DCCS) in April last year, under which they benefited from the various incentives the scheme extended, since 10 years. But, after the expiry, firms found it difficult to compete in global markets.
Other than that, the local manufacturers have also been hit hard by the heavy influx of competitively priced, Chinese textiles and clothing in the market. The textile sector has been requesting the government to protect them from these cheap imports and procure its requirements from the domestic sector.
The government had announced that, companies will be eligible for the incentive scheme which hires back retrenched workers and not for the ones who were still working and it would pay only for each re-employed worker, which did not generate interest amongst the textile fraternity.
However, according to the Executive Director of the Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association (BEMA), Loago Raditedu, the government has now amended the initial agreement and approved P38 million for the textile industry and he now expects that more companies will apply.
The textile and apparel sector was hit hard after the expiry of the Duty Credit Certificate Scheme (DCCS) in April last year, under which they benefited from the various incentives the scheme extended, since 10 years. But, after the expiry, firms found it difficult to compete in global markets.
Other than that, the local manufacturers have also been hit hard by the heavy influx of competitively priced, Chinese textiles and clothing in the market. The textile sector has been requesting the government to protect them from these cheap imports and procure its requirements from the domestic sector.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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