Pakistan’s exports of goods during the FY2021 were recorded at $25.3 billion, announced Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Abdul Razak Dawood, through Twitter on Thursday.
He wrote, “These are the highest-ever exports of Goods in the history of Pakistan. The previous highest was $25.1 billion in 2013-14.”
Our exporters have done it!! It gives me immense pleasure to share that our exports of Goods during FY 2020-21 stand at USD 25.3 billion. These are the highest-ever exports of Goods in the history of Pakistan. The previous highest was USD 25.1 billion in 2013-14.
— Abdul Razak Dawood (@razak_dawood) July 1, 2021
“Secondly, I would like to inform that the exports of Goods in June 2021 were highest for any month in our history at $2.7 billion. The previous highest was $2.6 billion in Sep 2013,” he said, adding, “Further, the export of Services during the FY 2021 is estimated to be $5.9 million.”
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The Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood said that “This is a remarkable achievement by our exporters considering the difficulties created by COVID-19 at home and resultant contractions in our major markets. It was not an easy task as many countries went into lockdown, and severely affected the business. Not only our exports survived the crisis but also we have enhanced it in many sectors. I salute our exporters on achieving the milestone.”
The Ministry of Commerce (MOC)’s Tariff Policy Board was formed under the National Tariff Policy with the major objective to improve the competitiveness of the Industry through gradual reduction of Customs Duty (CD), Additional Customs Duty (ACD), Regulatory Duty (RD), time bound tariff protection to strategic & import substitution industries and simplification of tariff structure and procedures.
Since 2018-19, tariff on more than 4000 inputs (i.e. raw materials, intermediate and capital goods) have been rationalized. As a result, almost 40% of total inputs in terms of number of tariff lines as well as value of imports are at 0% duty. This has improved competitiveness of the industry witnessed in 13% growth in LSM and 17% increase in exports despite COVID pandemic.
In the current budget 2021-22, major rationalization in textile value chain, iron & steel raw materials for all kind of flat products, pharmaceutical raw materials, machinery & equipment, inputs for footwear, glass, poultry, food processing industry would further lead not only to revival of industrialization in the country but also enhanced exports. With the current measures exports are expected to grow by 5% in next two years.
Tariff rationalization efforts in last two & a half years have brought trade weighted average tariff of Pakistan down from 9.07% in 2018-19 to 7.07% in 2021-22. Thus bringing tariff at par with the regional competitors, reducing the cost of manufacturing, generating employment, attracting new investment, and enhancing consumer welfare.
Tariff reforms will continue in the coming years.
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It is planned to study, analyze and reform tariff structure of the agriculture and transport & logistics sectors next year. Time bound & phased out protection to import substitution industry, further reduction in overall tariff including CD, ACD & RD and simplification of tariff structure will continue.
It is notable here that the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) is yet to publish trade statistics, and the figures for imports are also awaited.
