The abolishing of GSP + concessions has led to the shut down of 186 garment factories the joint- Secretary of the  FTZ and GSEU , Mr. Anton Marcus told ‘ Mirror’. He pointed out that almost 217,000 workers lost their their jobs.
In 2000, SL had 835 garment factories and in 2004 it had been reduced to 500.
In the year 2000, those who had employment in the garment trade exceeded one million and now the figure had dropped to 283,000.
However, Mr. Marcus pointed out that the income from the garment industry had not gone down since less workers are working more to offset the drop in those employed.Â
He said that while at the beginning, simple finished garments were exported today the focus is on specialized designer garments with a high demand in the world market thu earming a greater income.Â
