ISLAMABAD, SEPT 20 (DNA) – The Chairman of the FPCCI Advisory Board and National Business Group Pakistan, President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, as well as former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain, said on Friday that the performance of the export sector is satisfactory despite high business costs and adverse conditions.
Exports of the textile sector have seen a five percent increase in the last two months, while the same can be increased through a reduction in 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 the current account deficit of Pakistan 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 make import growth-based policies. Still, it has become imperative to make export-based policies necessary to reduce the cost of doing business.
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 the trade agreements made with other countries would cause harm to the country instead of benefit.
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 that 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 the exports of Pakistan and Vietnam 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 neighbor and close friend of an export superpower like China, the state of production, capacity, and exports in Pakistan is extremely deplorable.
