SME Times News Bureau | 14 Jun, 2019
Exporters' association FIEO on
Friday said slow exports growth in May is a reflection of extremely modest
growth in global trade and increasing protectionism.
In a statement, FIEO President
Ganesh Kumar Gupta added that MSME sectors are still facing the problem of
liquidity besides various other challenges including uncertainties owing to
tariff war, volatility in commodities/currencies, rapid rise in trade
restrictive measures and constraints on the domestic front.
The FIEO Chief is of the view
that due to US-China Trade war and developments in Iran has further aggravated
the problem in the world economy. The uncertainty attached to it will also
affect the flow of investment and add to currency volatility.
Only 17 out of 30 major
product groups were in positive territory during May 2019 including electronic
goods, organic & inorganic chemicals, drugs & pharma, RMG of all
textiles, plastics & Linoleum, ceramic products & glassware,
handicrafts, commodities besides a few plantation and agri products have
shown positive growth during the month.
FIEO Chief also expressed his
concerns on the rising trade deficit primarily on account of swelling crude
import bill with further northward movement of prices and ban on Iranian
imports along with rising gold import.
Gupta said that domestic
issues including access to credit, cost of credit especially for merchant
exporters, interest equalization support to all agri exports, benefits on
sales to foreign tourists and exemption from IGST under Advance Authorization
Scheme with retrospective effect should be seriously looked into.
Besides these, budgetary support for marketing and
exports related infrastructure are some of the other key issues, which needs
immediate attention of the government in the upcoming budget.