Overall declining trend in exports due to Covid-19 has been arrested: Dawood.

ISLAMABAD -- Adviser to PM on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razaq Dawood has said overall declining trend in exports due to Covid-19 has been arrested.

In his tweets on Thursday, the Adviser said he was expecting much worse exports results at the height of lockdown but we have successfully bounced back. He lauded the efforts of the exporters.

Abdul Razaq Dawood said that they will meet and straegize in the coming days and weeks to recover fully, continue momentum and expand exports with new products and more geographical diversification.

Abdul Razaq Dawood said he has received confirmation from Chief Secretary Punjab that export industries are allowed to work six days a week from seven am to seven pm. He hoped this will further facilitate the exporters.

Meanwhile Abdul Razak Dawood has said that the exports of Pakistan 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 from the Government in this regard.

This was stated by Abdul Razak Dawood while chairing a meeting to discuss export strategy of Pakistan, at Ministry of Commerce on Thursday. Senior officers of the Ministry attended the meeting. During the briefing, the current facts and figures related to the trend of exports were presented to the Advisor.

It was explained that, before the outbreak of the pandemic near the end of February 2020, Pakistan's exports were on an upward trajectory and it showed an increase of 14% in Dollar value terms, as compared to the same month last year.

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% as compared to last year.

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% compared to same period last year. The situation persisted and, in April 2020, the exports showed a downward trend of 54% 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% decline in exports as compared to same month last year.

The momentum continued in June 2020, as the downward trend...

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