Leather garment manufacturers begin to shut down in Pakistan
Pakistan is beginning to feel the full impact of the global economic slowdown combined with the difficulties connected with the current uncertainty in Afghanistan. Exports were the first to be hit following the terrorist attacks of September 11, and now the drop in business is trickling down the economy in the form of a wave of factory closures.
Around 60-70% of the leather garment factories in Sialkot, Punjab Province have been shut down because of a lack of export orders, while in Karachi the majority of the factories will start closing from next week, according to leather garment industry sources. In October alone there was a 40% decline in exports in the leather garments sector and industry experts suggest that the figures for November are unlikely to represent an improvement.
Farrukh H. Sheikh, the former Chairman of the Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) requested that members avoid cutting staff during the month of Ramadan (the Islamic holy month of fasting) and asked them to pay a full salary even if there is no work. He said that leather exporters should retain essential staff and lay off others only if the situation does not improve by the beginning of 2002.
