Pakistan’s exports declined by 12% in the past year

As we head into the new fiscal year, Pakistan has seen a sharp decline in the country’s exports. The exports fell by 12.11% from $23.667 billion to $20.802 billion in the fiscal year 2015 – 2016. The imports increased by 2.27%, standing at $4.467 billion in June 2016 compared to $4.368 billion in June 2015.

According to the data revealed by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the final two months of the last fiscal year were the most crucial. The country’s exports decreased 9.885% and stood at $1.651 billion in June 2016 compared to $1.832 billion in May 2016. On a year-on-year basis, the exports declined by 8.73% in June 2016 compared to $1.809 billion in June 2015. The imports, on the other hand, have increased by 11.45% – $4.467 billion in June 2016 compared with $4.008 billion in May 2016 according to the month-on-month basis. Due to increasing imports and decreasing exports, the trade deficit increased by 10.04% in June 2016.

According to an analyst,

“The exports are almost $21 billion while the imports have gone down by a mere $2.32 per cent during the fiscal year. The exports receipts are the major indicator to keep the government’s external account stable. The country also received about $19.9 billion through the workers’ remittances last year which will cover the current account of the country.”

The Ministry of Commerce announced the trade policy in March this year, after a lag of 9 months. A target of $35 billion exports by 2018 has been set which according to business analysts may become hard to achieve.

The government, however, is taking steps to improve the trade situation of the country. In the recently announced budget, the Finance Ministry announced the introduction of a zero-rated sales tax regime for top five textile sectors. This incentive would help bring down industrial costs for the value-added textile sector and help increase their exports.

Source – Pakistan Today