President, Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Yakoob Karim, has urged the government to announce revised Trade Policy to arrest falling exports at a fast pace. "Government had set a target of $35 billion exports by 2018, but unfortunately, we have lost the level of our precious exports and now it is really hard to reach even a very low target of $19 to $20 billion by 2018," he apprehended.
Lasbela CCI president said that the government had decided to revise the STPF a few months back because it was failing to yield results. He cited the three-year trade policy was approved by the government, last year. He said the framework had aimed at increasing $35 billion by 2018, improving export competitiveness, shifting the economy from factor-driven to innovation-driven and increasing the share in the regional trade.
"However, exports have continued to fall," he said citing that the commerce ministry had failed to announce revised trade policy which they had claimed to make public after completing consultation with the export associations and after getting approval from Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Yaqoob Karim said the trade policy framework was not properly structured; notifications of the five major schemes were issued late alongside cumbersome procedures to avail the schemes.