BEIJING, Jan. 4 : China substantially contributed to enhance Pakistan’s export in the recent year, says a report published by China Economic Net (CEN) on Monday.
Pakistan’s exports stood at $2.357 billion in December 2020, up 18.3 percent from $1.993 billion in the corresponding month of the previous year, which grew for the fourth consecutive month, according to data released by Pakistan Ministry of Commerce showed on January 1.
Pakistan achieved record exports in December 2020 with a growth of 18 percent over the previous year.
As per the report, Chinese scholar Prof. Cheng Xizhong commenting on it said, there are three main reasons for Pakistan’s substantial export growth.
First, this shows the resilience of Pakistani economy. It is a vindication of the government’s policy to keep the wheels of economy running during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The policies of the federal government of Pakistan are very wise, focusing on the prevention and control of the pandemic on the one hand and the economic recovery on the other hand.
Judging from the current situation, the novel coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan has been effectively controlled. In this regard, Pakistan has done the best in South Asia.
At the same time, from the very beginning to now, the Imran Khan administration has strongly stressed on the importance of economy development, improvement of people’s livelihood, increase of exports, and maintenance of a good state of finance, and roll outed a series of policies and measures.
Second, the second phase of China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into effect on December 1, 2019.
The conclusion of the second phase of FTA between China and Pakistan is an important measure to further enrich the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and enhance the level of trade liberalization and facilitation between the two countries.
Since then, Pakistan’s exports to China have increased rapidly. For example, Pakistan’s rice exports to China have increased from 1.3 percent in the past to 24.4 percent in 2020.
The Chinese government and people have a strong inclination for expanding trade between China and Pakistan.
Some of Pakistan’s special vegetables and fruits are favored by the Chinese consumers. At the same time, Pakistan is a very reliable supply chain for Chinese halal food.
Third, the substantial growth of Pakistan’s exports should also be attributed to the cooperation between China and Pakistan in building the economic corridor.
The corridor construction has entered a new stage. The construction of special economic zones (SEZs) and industrial parks is steadily advancing.
Now the increase in overall exports is mainly driven by double-digit growth in proceeds from textile and clothing sectors as well as engineering products, surgical instruments and value-added leather products.
Experts predict that once the SEZs and industrial parks are fully in operation, Pakistan will have a series of modern industrial production lines. By that time, Pakistan’s exports will grow at a rate of 30-50 percent per year, the report added.
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