Islamabad, December 29, 2025 – The Pakistan Textile Council (PTC) has issued an urgent appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, demanding the declaration of an ‘Export Emergency’ to rescue the country’s vital textile sector from collapse. In a strongly worded letter, PTC Chairman Fawad Anwar highlighted the severe erosion of export competitiveness due to high energy costs, burdensome taxation, and policy distortions that have left exporters on the verge of shutdowns.
Pakistan’s exports have contracted for the fourth straight month, dropping over 14 percent year-on-year in November 2025. For the July-November period of FY26, total exports fell to $12.8 billion from $13.7 billion the previous year, while imports ballooned to over $28 billion. This has ballooned the trade deficit to nearly $15.5 billion in just five months, with November alone seeing a $2.86 billion gap – a 33 percent increase from last year. The textile industry, which accounts for the bulk of Pakistan’s exports, is bearing the brunt of these challenges, threatening economic stability, jobs, and foreign exchange reserves.
Key Demands from the Textile Sector
The PTC has outlined a series of immediate measures to reverse the decline, including restoring a 1 percent full-and-final tax regime on exports, waiving taxes for high-growth exporters, abolishing the super tax on export sectors, and capping energy prices at regionally competitive levels – Rs2,600 per MMBtu for gas and Rs24 per unit for electricity. Additional calls include rationalizing fertilizer gas pricing, restoring duty-free imports under the Export Facilitation Scheme, addressing cotton smuggling through GST exemptions, and mandating banks to lend 50 percent of private sector credit to exporters.
Urgent Action Needed to Prevent Further Losses
Anwar warned that without swift intervention, delays would lead to factory closures, massive unemployment, and permanent loss of global market share. He emphasized that an export-led recovery is essential for Pakistan to achieve sustainable growth and exit IMF dependency. Industry experts agree that these structural reforms could quickly stabilize shipments and boost competitiveness against regional rivals like Bangladesh and Vietnam. The government has yet to respond officially, but stakeholders hope for prompt action to avert a deeper crisis in one of Pakistan’s cornerstone industries.