Pakistan’s exports to the seven regional countries witnessed an increase of 26.47pc in first eight months of financial year (2021-22), as compared to the corresponding months of last year.
The country’s exports to the regional countries including Afghanistan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and the Maldives account for a small amount of $2954.604m, which is 14.33pc of Pakistan’s overall exports of $20616.992m during July-February (2021-22), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported.
China tops the list of countries in terms of Pakistan’s exports to its neighbouring, leaving behind other countries such Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Pakistan carried out its border trade with the farther neighbour Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and Maldives.
Pakistan’s exports to China posted growth of 57.90pc to $1841.113m in eight months of this year from $1165.949m during last year while exports to Bangladesh also increased by 48.83pc to $559.118m from $375.669m.
The country’s export to Afghanistan however dropped by 53.02pc to $295.866m this year from $629.787m whereas exports to India also dipped by 69.64pc to $0.633m from $2.085.
Similarly, exports to Sri Lanka rose by 59.38pc to $249.079m from $156.272m in the previous year whereas exports to Nepal also increased by 58.06pc to $4.508m from $2.852m, in addition exports to Maldives increased by 22.34pc to $4.287m from $3.504m, it added.
On the other hand, the imports from seven regional countries were recorded at $11648.278m during the period under review as compared to $8222.207m during last year, showing increase of 41.66pc.
The imports from China during July-February 2021-22 were recorded at $11284.487m against the $7863.325m during July-February 2020-21, showing an increase of 43.50pc during the period. Among other countries, imports from India worth $121.761m against the imports of $126.041m, decrease of 3.39pc while imports from Afghanistan decreased by 2.24pc from $122.074m to $119.328m.
Meanwhile, imports from Sri Lanka witnessed 4.76pc decrease from $56.350m to $53.664m whereas Pakistan Imports from Bangladesh recorded at $67.025m from $53.66m during last year. The imports from Nepal into the country witnessed increase of 8.77pc from $0.741m to $0.806m, it said.