The economic situation in Pakistan at present is indeed worrying. Almost all the financial indicators have seen a downward trend, which paint a dismal picture of the domestic economy.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce, Industries and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood, however, has come up with an assurance that the government was actively working to encourage exports and discourage imports — a step in right direction for achieving export-led growth.
Addressing the 5th Pakistan Pharma Summit in Islamabad, the Advisor said the purpose of formulation of the Strategic Export Framework is to boost exports in 26 sectors of the economy. He said the Framework will be incorporated in the upcoming budget.
It is worrying that the ever-increasing debt of the country eats up some 30 percent of the budget every year and the country continues to take out loans to be able for repayments of the past borrowing.
The only way left for the country to deal with the loan repayments swiftly and give a boost to the country’s economy is to increase exports. The past governments relied solely on textile sector to boost exports which failed to achieve the targets.
The Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2015-18 was aimed at achieving the targets as enhancement of annual exports to 35 billion dollars, improve export competitiveness, increase share in regional trade and improve export competitiveness.
The government must have reviewed progress in the STPF 2015-18 before finalizing the strategic export framework. It must have consulted all the stakeholders in the public and private sector including Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, district chambers, trade associations, academia, think tanks, trade missions and other government agencies before finalizing the framework.
To achieve the export targets, the state institutions must ensure competitiveness, compliance to standards, market access, protection of intellectual property and effective and efficient disputes resolution mechanism.
Access should be enhanced to regional markets such as GCC, ASEAN, SAARC, Afghanistan and CARs. Besides this, the government may negotiate bilateral preferential access with other friendly countries. It remains a fact that Pakistani industries have failed to register themselves with the global certification institutions due to which, country’s products do not gain access to global markets.
If Pakistan is to avoid the looming economic disaster and open the door of prosperity for its people, it must enhance exports, review current spending and give priority to the expenditures that actually generate social and economic development and uplift the poor.
The strategic export framework envisages 100b dollar exports annually. Pakistan is blessed with all types of natural resources and just need attention of the high ups to materialize dream of prosperity into reality.
Also Read: The improving economy?
