Asian poor worry as textile quotas end

China and India have high hopes as global textile quotas end but for many workers in countries such as Bangladesh, there is only fear.

China and India have high hopes riding on the abolition of global textile quotas at the end of 2004 but for many workers in countries such as Bangladesh, there is only fear.

HT Image

A number of textile workers in the south Asian nation, one of the world's poorest nations, are despondent and say they do not know how they will survive.

"Three months ago, I lost my job as my garment factory lost all its orders (because of the end to the quotas) and now I feel totally lost," said Ankhi Akhter, 21.

The garments industry underpins the economy of Bangladesh where nearly half of the 140 million population lives on less than a dollar a day. Three-quarters ($5.7 billion) of the country's foreign revenue comes from the industry.

The United Nations Development Fund believes the end of the decades-old Multifibre Arrangement (MFA) will wipe out an estimated one million jobs as Bangladesh loses contracts to China and to a lesser extent India with their big economies of scale.

Indonesia is expected to be another of the main Asian losers from the end of the quota pact guaranteeing garments producers access to lucrative markets in the US and Europe.

Experts had predicted that the Philippines and Cambodia would also be badly hit by the loosening of world trade barriers but officials are upbeat about their countries' prospects in the post-MFA era.