Despite huge claims of the federal government and the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), the country’s exports further declined by 3.82 per cent to $9.912 billion in July-December 2016-17, while imports touched all time high at $24.402 billion or 10.11 per cent.
According to the data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) here on Monday, the country’s exports stood at $9.912 billion in last six months of the current fiscal year compared to $10.306 billion, while imports of the country touched $24.402 billion compared to $22.162 billion in the same period last year.
The trade deficit further swelled up to $14.490 billion in July-Dec 2016-17 up by 22.22 per cent compared to $11.856 billion in the same period last year. It surged by 11.87 per cent in December 2016 on MOM basis, while 35.68 per cent up on YOY basis.
“Rising import figures may create problems to the country’s economy,” the analyst said. The import bills had jumped to $24.4 billion, which was almost 130 per cent up of the total exports of the country, he said.
“The exports of the country have slightly improved in last quarter Oct-Dec 2016 compared to July-Sept 2016,” the analyst said. The federal government has not taken any strict measure to improve the cotton import which was the main demand of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), he added.
On Year-on-Year basis, the goods exports stood at $1.727 billion in December 2016 down by 3.09 per cent compared to $1.782 billion in December 2015, meanwhile on Month-on-Month basis, the goods exports down by 1.99 per cent compared to the exports of $1.762 billion in November 2016, the data said.
Similarly, the imports of the country increased by 6.10 per cent to $4.488 billion in December 2016 compared to $4.230 billion in December 2015, while on MOM basis, the imports increased by 17.58 per cent compared to $3.817 billion.
The business communities are blaming that the decline in exports is the result of wrong policies of the federal government as it did not support the businessmen and industries during his ruling period. They had informed the federal government several times that there was cotton shortage in the country which was the basic need of yarn and clothes. They demanded for allowing cotton import from India.
APTMA Chairman Aamir Fayyaz said, “Exports of all sectors registered a downward slide due to the high cost of doing business in Pakistan.” He said that the government should immediately remove Customs Duty on import of cotton from January 1, 2017, allow duty-free import of all man-made fibres not being manufactured locally and provide graduating drawbacks of local taxes and levies at 4 per cent on yarn and Grieg fabric, 5pc on processed fabric and 6pc on home textiles, made-ups and garments on exports, he demanded.
The analyst said all the economic indicators of the country have been improved in last six months except the exports and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) while we were looking 2017 ‘the best year of the country’.
He said the only Chinese investment was coming into the country and on the other side same investment was going against the imports of latest machineries and other equipments from China, which was the main burden on our trade deficit. “Country’s export may increase if the government gives free hand to exporters especially to the textile sector,” he claimed.
According to State Bank of Pakistan data out of this total $894 million received in Net Foreign Private Investments and the remaining $677 million received by public sector. The country’s total foreign investment surged by 36.6 per cent to $1.505 billion mainly supported by foreign public portfolio investment which improved by 151 per cent during July-Nov 2016-17.
In the last budget 2016-17, the federal government has also set its $35 billion export target by the end of 2018.
The Finance Ministry gave incentives of rebate and Zero-rated Sales Tax to top five important textile sectors to enhance their exports in coming years. These five sectors export almost half of the total goods export from Pakistan especially in European Union (EU), America and other countries.
Last year 2015-16, the country’s goods export declined by 12.11 per cent to $20.802 billion from $23.667 billion in 2014-15 while total imports fell by 2.32 percent to $44.765 billion from $45.826 billion.
Owing to the declining exports and remittances, the exchange rates of dollar is under pressure in the interbank market and open currency market for last four months and had touched Rs 104.85 higher by 35 paisas and Rs 108.30 in the open currency market.