Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (Piaf) Vice-Chairman, Mubashar Sheikh, while expressing his concern over the increasing trade deficit, has urged the government to discourage unnecessary imports and take immediate steps to improve volume of exports. In a statement issued here on Tuesday, Mubasher said that imports were registered at around 10.5 billion dollars from July to January this fiscal, while exports remained around 7.5 billion dollars.
He said that pressure on import bill was inevitable keeping in view the modernisation of textile industry and increasing oil prices and improving exports could ease this pressure.
He proposed that holding of single country exhibitions abroad and giving special tasks to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and commercial officers of Pakistani embassies abroad could help in this regard.