Pakistan exports declined by 1.15% in January 2020 as it fell down to $1.970 billion as compared with $1.993 billion in December 2019, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Imports remained unchanged in January 2020 at $4.037 billion. Trade deficit was recorded at $2.067 billion in January 2020 as compared to $2.044 billion in the same month of previous year, down by just 1.13% in the month of January.
Ossama Rizvi, an economic and geopolitical analyst said,
Pakistan’s exports have been subject to these ups and downs since the past decade or so. The problem in essence is the lack of our GDP to exports ratio, which is amongst the lowest in the region. We need value additions but that requires a learning curve which in turn is a result of a long process. Once again, energy costs and efficiency along with productivity comes into play.
However, the trade deficit narrowed by 28.4% to $13.75 billion in seven months of the current financial year from $19.2 billion in the corresponding period of last year.
The country’s exports recorded an increase of 2.14% in seven months (July to January) 2019-20 as it was posted at $13.498 billion as compared with $13.216 billion in the same period of the previous year. However, the imports have gone down by 15.95% to $27.249 billion in July-January of 2019-2020 as compared to $32.420 billion.
According to PBS, exports declined by 3.17% to $1.97 billion in January 2020 as compared to $2.035 billion in the same month of the previous year i.e. January in 2019. The imports declined by 9.63% to $4.037 billion in January 2020 from $4.467 billion in January 2019. The country’s trade deficit was recorded at $2.067 billion in January as compared to $2.433 billion in the same month of the previous year showing a decline of 15.03%.
The country’s exports have registered a negative growth of 1.15 percent in the month of January 2020 as compared to December, exporting goods worth $1.970 billion in January 2020 as compared to $1.993 billion in December 2019.
Commerce Minister Abdul Razzak Dawood has termed the current fiscal year ‘promising’ in terms of improvement in Pakistan’s exports. The Ministry of Commerce has launched the Look Africa initiative but there are questions about whether Pakistan can gain anything from the initiative or not.
