Daily Times

Pakistan’s trade deficit reached all-time high of $37.6 billion in Fiscal Year 2017-18 (FY18) from $20.4 billion in FY13 when the PML-N led government took charge in 2013.

Before PML-N’s government, exports from Pakistan stood at $24.5 billion by the end of FY13 while the import bill of the country were recorded at $44.9 billion. It is to be noted that Pakistan acquired the GSP plus status from the European Union in December of 2013, granting member states duty-free access to 96 percent of Pakistani exports to the European Union (EU). The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said Pakistan Pakistani exporters benefited less compared to the other countries.

Meanwhile, Pakistani exports rose 13.74 percent in FY18 from a year ago, boosted by higher shipments of textiles, food items and POL products, data from Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed Wednesday.

However, the country largely missed the export target of $35 billion, which the federal government had set in the three-year Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2016-18. Despite strengthening export growth and decelerating import growth, Pakistan’s trade deficit reached a historic high of $37.6 billion in FY18 from $32.4 billion in the preceding fiscal year. A broad-based increase in export quantums was overshadowed by an upsurge in import quantums, with higher commodity prices further aggravating the situation.

Published in Daily Times, July 12^th 2018.