ISLAMABAD: Sheikh Amir Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has called upon the PTI government to cooperate with the private sector in promoting exports as without exports promotion, it was not possible to overcome the rising trade and fiscal deficits of the country. He said during FY 2017-18, Pakistan’s trade deficit surged to $34 billion which was record increase in the country’s history. It reflected that instead of promoting exports, the country was depending on imports to meet its needs.
Sheikh Amir Waheed said that Pakistan’s exports have been struggling for the last many decades while the exports of its neighbors have been improving. He said in 1992, Bangladesh’s exports were $2.098 billion which have increased to $35.96 billion by 2017. However, Pakistan’s exports improved from $7.3 billion in 1992 to $21.569 billion in 2017 which showed that the country remained unsuccessful in promoting exports according to its real potential. He said that Pakistan was mostly depending on textiles for export while its share of textiles exports in world market have come down from 2.2 percent to 1.7 percent.
ICCI president said that during the last 25 years, India has reduced its dependence on textiles exports by focusing on IT services, auto parts, pharmaceuticals and light engineering goods due to which India’s exports have crossed $298 billion in 2017. He urged that Pakistan should also focus on diversification of exports. He emphasized that government should support the private sector in value addition of products so that Pakistan could improve its exports by exporting value added products.
Muhammad Naveed Malik Senior Vice President and Nisar Mirza Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that energy cost in Pakistan was highest in the region which was a major hurdle in promoting exports. They stressed that the government should focus on indigenous and renewable energy sources to produce cheap energy that would bring down the cost of doing business, foster business activities and promote exports.
