President of the National Chamber of Shoe Manufacturers, Khemais Mitatou, has said that the sector is on the brink of extinction in the absence of effective and concrete action by the ministries of trade and industry, given the cost of purchasing raw materials and paying VAT for Tunisian shoe manufacturers, while suppliers of finished shoes only pay VAT.
In a statement to Mosaïque fm, he pointed out that shoe exporters provide the country with substantial hard currency earnings each year, but this sector has not received the attention it deserves, with the failure to update Law 72 leaving Tunisian manufacturers at the mercy of the foreign supplier of raw materials.
He called for the adoption of a special tax law for Tunisian manufacturers, to whom the banking sector is also reluctant to provide the necessary financing.
They have solutions, but the two ministries in charge don’t want to apply them, which has left manufacturers in a state of despair,” he stressed, noting that the number of footwear and leather companies in Tunisia has fallen from 462 to 60, including 55 exporting companies.