The Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board and National Business Group Pakistan, the President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain said on Friday that the export sector’s performance is satisfactory despite high business costs and adverse conditions. Exports from the textile sector have increased by five per cent in the last two months, and they can be improved further by reducing bank markup and other costs.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that exports have seen a 14.4% increase in the last two months, which is a welcome development. He added that a 30% increase in IT exports, 29% in pharmaceuticals, and 100% in rice have been witnessed. The business leader said that more attention should be given to halal food, IT, and other sectors so that the country’s income can be increased, after which the people and the business community can get some relief.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that for many decades, Pakistan imported goods and services worth more than two dollars for one dollar of export earnings, which is the main reason for the country’s problems.
He observed that Pakistan’s current account deficit has also turned into a surplus in the last two months due to some prudent policies.
For the last several decades, due to terrorism and law and order problems, Pakistan has been forced to adopt import-growth-based policies. Still, it has become imperative to adopt export-based policies to reduce business costs.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that the government needs to strongly patronize the export sector and added that the export sector needs to be interested in increasing production, competitiveness, diversification, valuation, better access to global markets, and research and development.
He underlined that 250 million people would benefit from the increase in exports. He stressed that trade agreements with other countries would harm the country instead of benefit it.
These agreements have damaged the country’s industrial sector; hundreds of factories have closed while imports have increased, showing our bureaucracy’s ingenuity.
Termination of such harmful trade agreements is in the national interest. Mian Zahid Hussain said Bangladesh’s exports are currently more than Pakistan’s because they have made export-friendly policies. Bangladesh’s exports have more than doubled since 2013, while we can barely maintain the volume of exports.
Mian Zahid Hussain asked how a country that imports goods and services worth 60 billion dollars and its exports are stagnant at $30 billion can run.
Despite millions of acres of fertile land in Pakistan, edible oil worth four billion dollars is being imported annually. In comparison, nine billion dollars are being spent on transportation.
Mian Zahid Hussain further said that Pakistan’s and Vietnam’s exports were equal in 2010; now, Pakistan’s exports are at 30 billion dollars, while Vietnam’s exports have reached 350 billion dollars.
Despite being a neighbour and close friend of an export superpower like China, the state of production, capacity, and exports in Pakistan is extremely deplorable.
