Pakistan will start exporting mobile phones and motorcycles next year, as declared by Abdul Razak Dawood, the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries, Production and Investment.
He added that exporters should focus on the nontraditional sectors to increase exports.
Dawood said there is an acute dearth of manufacturing units for shirts, suits, and ladies’ garments, and that exporters should focus on the sectors as the government will facilitate and support them.
“We could take our exports to $200 billion within the next couple of years,” he said during a meeting with industrialists.
He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan will have two meetings — the first one will be to decide the export targets for the next financial year; and the second one will be with the Minister of Finance, Shaukat Tarin, to resolve the issue of the availability of yarn.
A policy has been finalized for the payment of duty drawback of the local taxes and levies. It had been intentionally ignored in the current budget, and the government will finalize it after a meeting with the Minister of Finance, Dawood said.
He also revealed that he was scheduled to visit Uzbekistan as the Central Asian markets have a potential of $90 billion and Pakistan must exploit it.
He also stated that the market conditions are changing and that new challenges are cropping up accordingly, for which “we have to handle those with wisdom and prudence in the fast-changing business environment”.
The exports had jumped to $31 billion last year, with the lion’s share having been contributed by the textile sector. The measures had enabled the exporters to explore new markets. Forty percent of raw materials are imported, and the duty on them had been reduced to zero. Duty has been reduced to zero levels on various textile raw materials, including raw cotton, nylon, acrylic, viscose, and wool.
While speaking about inflation, Dawood admitted that it is a major issue. The sustainability of economic growth is a major challenge after the stabilization and improvement of the economic indicators. A series of meetings have been proposed to be held with the stakeholders immediately after Eid.
“Our economy is moving in the right direction and industry is making phenomenal growth,” Dawood said, and added that the government had attained its growth targets during the last three years, and now, the challenge is to ensure the sustainability of economic growth.
The President of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ihtisham Javed, said that Pakistan can enhance its exports to $25 billion as the government has withdrawn duties on 1,600 additional tariff lines.
Meanwhile, Dawood addressed a meeting of the All Pakistan Bed-sheets and Upholstery Manufacturers Association.
Courtesy: Pro Pakistan