Ministry of Commerce official says they are looking for alternative markets to bridge gap in exports
Afghanistan is second largest importer of Pakistani goods after United States
By M ARSHAD
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has started looking for alternative markets to bridge a gap in exports due to possible reduction in Pakistani exports to Afghanistan after withdrawal of international forces.
The US and NATO have been transporting large quantities of logistic goods to Afghanistan for sustenance of their troops. Since Pakistan afforded an easy access to Afghanistan, so it was an obvious and convenient choice for the US and NATO forces to transit its military equipment, reconstruction material and logistic cargo to Afghanistan via Pakistan. For sustaining the force in the land-locked country, the US and NATO needed to import a wide range of materiel into Afghanistan, the bulk of which routed through the Karachi port.
Official trade volume between Pakistan and Afghanistan is about $2 billion while the unofficial trade volume is about $5 billion thus making Afghanistan the second largest importer of Pakistani goods after the United States.
“Under the notion of diversified marketing, search for new markets for Pakistani exports will be launched,” a senior MoC official told Customs Today on Wednesday.
“Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan are likely to reduce after the withdrawal of foreign forces by the end of current year which has necessitated evolution of strategy with special focus on diversified marketing to bridge the gap in exports to Pakistan,” the official observed.
“The reduced and lowered per capita income of Afghan people after the withdrawal of NATO and ISAF forces will definitely affect the international monetary inflow towards Afghanistan which will result in decreased buying power of the Afghan,” the official said adding, therefore, in the coming one and half year Pakistani exports especially luxury items, including construction material will be reduced.
He said that previously, the reconstruction phase of Afghanistan required import of Pakistani construction material which would be reduced after the completion of said phase.
The official was also of the view that in the beginning Pakistani exports, including construction material, cement and iron as well as electronic products like refrigerators, fans and air coolers would see a marginal reduction.
“This state of affairs will definitely cast negative impacts on Pakistani electronic goods manufacturers and electronic industry based in Gujrat, Gujranwala and few other cities,” the official said.
Afghanistan has evolved to one of Pakistan’s top three trade partners. The volume of bilateral trade between the two countries has increased manifold during the last few years and has increased from $1110.9 million in 2005-06 to $2.4 billion in 2011-12. Exports from Pakistan to Afghanistan have increased from $1063.4 million to $2449 million during this period. Main exports include pharmaceutical products, foods, textile, petroleum products and building material.
