Addressing a live conference, Special Assistant to Prime Minister of Pakistan on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill and Adviser to Prime Minister of Pakistan for Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood talked about the government’s efforts to mobilize business in the country, explaining the outcome of Prime Minister Khan’s meeting with leading exporters of the country.
Firstly, Gill talked about the government’s recent consultations with the business community. He said that one of the foremost acts by Razzak Dawood and his team was to end the two-way communication between the business community of the country.
Gill said that the government took actions that needed to be taken from the government side, and asked the business community to take actions that they needed to take, resulting in coverage for the losses made in the past, and jumping over to the profit side of the business community.
Special Assistant said, “we are so confident about next year that we are going to set even bigger goals.”
He lastly said that the exporters thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan for lending the business community an ear unlike ever before. He added,” it has been decided in the latest meeting that PM Khan will hold a monthly meeting with the exporters to listen to their problems”, which would be solved on the provincial level by provincial representatives and on the federal level by the federal government.
On the other hand, exporters will meet the relevant government representatives and stakeholders every 15 days to hold consultations on the issues, and this will facilitate sustainable growth targets set by the government.
Export Numbers and targets
Abdul Razzak Dawood took the press conference forward. He began by saying that the government has paid a lot of attention to the exports over the past twelve months, which resulted in an increase in exports to a record $25.3 billion by the end of the fiscal year 2021.
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He said that this was not an easy task, adding, ” in June 2021 exports reached $2.7 billion, the highest number ever recorded.”
“In July, the exports touched $2.3 billion”, he added. the highest number ever in the month of July.
Dawood added that exports are the number one priority of the government, adding that along with it, the government will focus on its policy of “Make in Pakistan”.
He said that people have asked how did the exports increase, saying that this government has made a strategy around four major points.
The points include trade, payments of refunds (which had to be paid by the government to exporters), competitive energy prices for exporters, and tariff rationalization.
He said that the duties on raw materials have been decreased, leading to increased exports.
Talking about the export target for FY22, he said in the last fiscal year, the export for the goods was $25.3 billion, and $6 billion was for services, so $31.3 billion were the exports.
“For this year, the exports target for goods will be $31.2 billion, and the services export target would be $7.5 billion, making the overall target of $38.7 billion in total exports for FY22”, he said.
In the meeting with PM, different sectors were called upon, and it was decided that a range should be set.
Quoting the textile sector, he said that the representatives were optimistic that would be able to take exports up to $20-$21 billion this year.
Mr. Dawood said seeing the exports figures quoted by the representatives, the total exports for the country can touch a good $40 billion, given no complications arise due to the ongoing pandemic.
He said the range would be between $38.7 billion and $40 billion.
Advisor to the Prime Minister said, two very special people were summoned by me to meet the PM. One was the CEO of Altas Honda Pakistan Saquib Shirazi, who said in front of the PM that the existing exports of the motorcycles are none but for the first time 10,000 orders have been placed.
“The other person was the CEO at Tecno Pack Telecom Amir Allahwala, who has started local manufacturing of mobile phones in Pakistan. Allahwala told PM that the import of mobile phones is decreasing while the local manufacturing is increasing”, he added.
Statements by these two businessmen meant that the government’s policy of “Make in Pakistan” is heading in the right direction.
Abdul Razak Dawood said, “I am hearing, this policy had led to 21 new applicants of mobile manufacturers who want to produce mobiles in Pakistan.”
This would mean that the burden on the textile sector would decrease in the future.
He claimed that the textile sector’s new figures show that the value-added products’ exports increased. On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, Knitwear grew by 37pc, home textile grew by 29pc, and readymade garments by 19pc, while yarn exports fell by 2pc YoY, meaning downstream exports increased.
He said that this growth trend must be sustainable, and the objective is that export culture rises in the country.
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Adding to the statistics, Shahbaz Gill said, Pakistan is likely to move to become the fourth-biggest exporter of motorcycles in the world.