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Advisor to Prime Minister for Commerce, Textile, Industry, Production and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood has said that increase in value added products is a good sign. Fourteen per cent rise in export and 18 per cent fall in imports in July 2019 over July 2018 is showing that now things are moving in right direction.
He stated this while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Export Trophy- 2019. He said that responsibility of the government is to correct the things and if we don't do this, we would continue suffering. Our survival lies in exports. It is government's responsibility to give businessmen market access. He said that China has agreed to extend duty free access on 313 tariff lines, he added.
"I have targeted five countries USA, Canada, Japan, Korea and Australia to get market access for Pakistani businessmen", the Advisor said and added that engineering and other sectors are being focused for exports. It is a good to see that Pakistan is exporting tractors to Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya. "We are rectifying the things at economic front that went wrong in past, he said.
While giving an overview of economy in past, the Advisor said we had a trader led importation consumption driven economy in past. Uncontrolled imports, under invoicing, contrary to the fact tariff structures and irrational exchange rate dwindled the economy. He said that big industries stopped manufacturing and started import because there was 5 percent duty imposed on finished goods as compare to 20 percent on the import of raw materials. He was of the view that the country's survival lies in exports to get rid of the economic stress.
CCI President Almas Hyder said that current account deficit is the biggest problem of Pakistan. Huge gap between imports and exports created issues like currency devaluation, rise in interest rates and various others. He said that exports have a paramount importance in Pakistan's economy as these are the main source of revenue generation (around $24 billion) and employment creation. Exports are also imperative for maintaining the balance of payment stability of our country.
"As Pakistan aims to become a competitive economy in the region and grow above 7 percent, it is imperative for us to enhance our export revenues to deal with multi-dimensional economic challenges that have confronted our nation", he said. It is however a bitter reality that Pakistan is far behind the regional economies in export revenues. While our exports are stagnant around $24 billion, the exports of Bangladesh have surpassed $40 billion. Turkey, whose exports were comparable to Pakistan in 1980s, is now fetching more than $165 billion in export revenues. Vietnam's export revenues stand at $290 billion.
He said that there is need for a long-term integrated export strategy that encourages investment in manufacturing for producing export surpluses, encourages value addition, and resolves long-standing issues like competitiveness and productivity. Special focus in the new export strategy should be given to technology intensive industries with immense export potential e.g. sports goods, surgical, auto parts, chemicals, value added textile, ceramics, cutlery, engineering goods and pharmaceuticals.
Almas Hyder said there is also a need to enhance competitiveness of our Industry through a rational Tariff Regime that promotes Industrialization and an efficient system of refund payments which would not squeeze the working capital of industry. To facilitate investment in export oriented industries, the persistent challenges in business regulatory environment like registering a company, electricity connection, getting construction permits, resolving insolvency and registering property etc. need to be dealt with. "As the countries around the world are moving swiftly towards smart regulations, electronic portals, Pakistan would have to adopt a similar course and review old regulations with a Regulatory Guillotine", the LCCI President added.
Earlier, Abdul Razak Dawood conferred LCCI export awards to the best exporters for various categories.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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