'Open up imports to expand exports'

Business Recorder op-ed writer Ali Khizar in his yesterday's op-ed "Open up imports to expand exports" for the newspaper seems to have ignored a key factor in relation to our state of economy. He has argued, among other things, that "In Pakistan, virtually no intermediate goods are being imported for re-exporting after value addition. Vietnam specialized in that. For instance, the country imports smart phones parts, assemble those and re-export. The value addition created jobs in Vietnam. The flow of goods in and out of the country created incentive for private sector (as well as public) to invest in port and inland transport infrastructure. These services created more jobs. The overall economy started revolving around international trade."

He needs to answer whether or not the current stabilisation phase allows the policymakers to go for increased imports when the country's external sector condition is still far from satisfactory. We need to admit that unfortunately we do not have a culture of exports. Economies such as Vietnam's cannot be a useful tool to make recommendations for any policy aimed at boosting Pakistan's exports because the two countries have different needs and different histories.