Daily Times

KARACHI: Pakistan has never faced imports being two-and-a-half times bigger of country’s current exports. Pakistan faces this unprecedented trade deficit despite the prevalence of low international prices of our biggest import-oil.

Agha Saiddain, Ghulam Rabbani, Ibrahim Qureshi, Shakeel Ahmad, Sanaullah Khan and Qamar Qureshi, executives of tanning, textile, business forum, agriculture sector, marble and minerals, economic forum and others segments of trade business have observed that the wrong structural policies and various factors of government remained a primary reason that country has seen a drastic drop in exports.

The economic charts of Pakistan stand on an unsatisfactory level at the moment. They asked future coming government and policy-makers to encourage private sectors to play their roles in putting the economy back on the right track.

The country should fully avail opportunities created due to the worldly chain of events, such as global decline in oil prices and China Pakistan Economic Corridor being made in the region.

Pakistan’s trade deficit has knocked a record level of $30 billion in 2016-17, demonstrating a jump of 42 percent as compared to the last financial year. Exports have declined by 3 percent to $18.5 billion while imports have gone up by 21 percent to $48.5 billion.

The trade officials can also play a vital role for presenting good governance, portraying bettering security perception and political stability for enhancement in foreign investment, they were of the view.

Unlike Middle East or East Asia, Pakistan has followed a traditional policy of import substitution rather than export promotion. Therefore, little emphasis have been given on broadening exports has remained over-reliant on textiles as the key export.

Exports of cloth, cotton yarn and value-added textiles make up to almost 60 percent of our total exports.

Published in Daily Times, August 1^st , 2017.