Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir on Wednesday discussed reasons behind export sector's dismal performance and the strategy for a quantum rise with a panel of experts comprising former Governors of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Dr Ishrat Hussain, Shahid Kardar, Director SDPI, Dr Abid Sulehri and Dr Faisal Bari, Professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).
Talking to Business Recorder, Commerce Minister said the main theme of the meeting was to analyse the reasons for the decline in country's exports and what measures are needed to put them on track. One thing, the panel of experts pointed out was a decline in prices of commodities at the international level, slowdown of China's economy and domestic issues like energy crisis, law and order situation and non-payment of refunds to exporters.
Some analysts argue that the textile sector which is the top foreign exchange earner should be more subsidised at the cost of other sectors to provide them the opportunity to compete at the international level, which implies that competitive sectors will remain in the market and others will be ousted.
It was also stated that brands are not being established in the country and whatever is exported should be first recognised in Pakistan. Presently, only four or five local brands are established. Local brands can only be established when they are given protection under copyright laws. The panel of experts maintained that exports methodology has changed at the global level as the international chains have established their stores in different countries and when a brand comes in their global chain, they will procure the product for across the globe.
"There is need to change the mindset with respect to promoting Pakistani exports," said one of the experts. The issue of exporters' refunds stuck with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), a Division of Finance Ministry also came under discussion. The panel was of the view that the refunds should be cleared after reconciliation to encourage greater investment in industry.
"The trust between the government and private sector cannot be restored until the government clears the refunds of exporters," said the experts. The Sialkot model - private public partnership and higher prices of energy in Pakistan also came under discussion. The tariff for peak hours is around Rs 45-50 per unit for the industry which makes it uncompetitive with the neighbouring countries. The experts were of the view that recent increase in Regulatory Duty will encourage smuggling.
After a detailed discussion, the panel of experts reached the conclusion that it is the Prime Minister or Finance Minister Ishaq Dar who can remove bottlenecks as nothing is in the control of Commerce Ministry. "We have recommended that an inter-ministerial committee should be constituted to devise a comprehensive strategy with respect to increasing exports," the experts concluded.
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