Exports showing clear signs of recovery, claims commerce ministry.

Byline: Imran Ali Kundi

ISLAMABAD -- The ministry of commerce has noted that Pakistan's exports are showing clear signs of recovery due to the efforts of the exporters to diversify the products, in the wake of new opportunities arising amid COVID-19 pandemic and support of the government.

The ministry has observed that country's exports are now declining at slower pace as compared to the previous months when pandemic started in the country. The ministry said that Pakistan's exports were on an upward trajectory and it showed an increase of 14 per cent in dollar value terms as compared to the same month last year before the outbreak of the pandemic near the end of February 2020. This momentum for February 2020 continued despite the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, as the first 10 days of March 2020 registered an increase of 13 per cent as compared to last year.

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In mid March, because of a lockdown to control the spread of the pandemic, followed by a global economic slowdown, the export-oriented industry in Pakistan suffered as reflected in March 2020 figures, which showed the decline in growth by 8 per cent compared to same period last year. The situation persisted and, in April 2020, the exports showed a downward trend of 54 per cent as compared to April 2019.

After the month of April and with the efforts of the Government to encourage the export sector, the first signs of recovery were observed in the month of May 2020, which only saw 33 per cent decline in exports as compared to same month last year. The momentum continued in June 2020, as the downward trend has been brought down to single digit figure of 6 per cent in dollar value terms. However, the ministry has not shared the figures of exports in absolute terms.

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood has chaired a meeting to discuss export strategy of Pakistan. The meeting noted that in addition to a positive trend of exports, the figures also indicate the strategies for geographical and product diversification are bearing fruits. For instance, there is significant improvement in exports to Africa, which is an...