Rising protectionism, commodity prices, inadequate liquidity are major challenges for exporters: FIEO

New Delhi: Rising protectionism, fluctuation in commodity prices and inadequate availability of liquidity are the three major challenges, which exporters will face in the coming months, exporters body FIEO said. Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said the WTO has already cautioned that the global trade growth is expected to be lower in 2019 than it was last year. “Protectionism will continue to rise and it will impact global demand for goods,” FIEO director general Ajay Sahai told PTI. [caption id=“attachment_4233495” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] He said that the other two challenges include fluctuation in commodity prices and inadequate availability of credit as banks are not coming forward to lend exporters. “These challenges would impact India’s exports, so we need to gear up for this. Timely support by the government would help deal with these issues,” he added. Sahai suggested the banks to follow online procedure for credit lending as it will ease the processes. The WTO had in its preliminary estimates predicted a 3.7 percent expansion of global trade for this year, but has revised that down to 2.6 percent. Further, he said that as per the current growth rate, India’s merchandise exports will touch $330 billion in 2018-19. During the April-February period of 2018-19, exports grew 8.85 percent to $298.47 billion, while imports rose by 9.75 percent to $464 billion. Since 2011-12, India’s exports have been hovering at around $300 billion. During 2017-18, the overseas shipments grew by about 10 percent to $303 billion and in 2013-14, it aggregated at about $315 billion. Promoting exports helps a country to create jobs, boost manufacturing and earn more foreign exchange.