According to newspaper reports, the Ministry of Commerce has admitted that inconsistent policies are responsible for continuous fall in the country’s exports as about 45 products have failed to compete in the international market. In a report presented in parliament, besides other reasons, the trade and monetary policies have been the principle factors since the current government took over in 2013. On one hand the government failed to devise a mechanism to regulate financial policies and on the other, it lacks vision to update economy in line with the changing environment in the region and elsewhere. The main thrust of the policymakers always remained on squeezing the business community to extract more and more money without realizing that it will adversely affect trade and economy. The former prime minister, who himself is a businessman, could not coordinate with the business community to resolve thorny issues faced them. When other nations in the region are making tremendous progress, the government confined itself to lip service. Bangladesh is a success story which has boosted its economy from scratches and even Pakistani businessmen invested billions of dollars in that country which is hostile to Pakistan.
As a matter of fact, the PML-N government could not grasp things during its four year tenure and the situation is now turning into political chaos. The export and import policies still need improvement. Pakistani business community is also responsible for the falling exports as they have failed to diversify their products, produce an international brand or tried to explore non-traditional sectors. They are still relying on traditional exports such as textile, rice, sports and leather products and still use old technology which increases cost of production. At least 72 percent exports of the country were made of cotton during 2016-17, showing narrow export base of the country.
The economy is in disarray and it needs attention from the government to revise tariffs and taxes to create a business friendly environment. The current situation is that every entrepreneur is fighting for his survival in the hostile situation. When focus of the government policies is only to collect money, all the other business friendly steps will be backfired and that is the practice going on in the country since independence. There is a need to provide level playground for the local and foreign investors and that is the only panacea for economic woes of the country.
