ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Adviser on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood on Tuesday said that the post-coronavirus world will be a perfect opportunity to increase the local exports to the international markets under the “Make in Pakistan Policy”.
“We are fully prepared to exploit the economic and trade opportunities expected in the wake of the post-COVID-19 pandemic to increase local production for promoting Pakistan made products in global potential markets,” the adviser told APP here.
“We perceive and expect more opportunities to promote bilateral trade and strengthen linkage with potential markets. including the European Union, China, Central Asian States, Middle East, and African region besides promoting regional trade in the post-pandemic environment,” he said.
He said that business processes would be completely different in the post-COVID-19 situation and such difficult times always bring out new opportunities, new products, and new ways of thinking. Razak Dawood said that in the current emergence of new realities and paradigm shifts in international trade and the economic side, this was a golden opportunity for Pakistan to pursue the Make in Pakistan Policy.
He said that Pakistan must move towards making products on its own rather than importing items. Talking about the tariff structure, he said that the Ministry of Commerce was pursuing to bring changes in the tariff structure for the upcoming fiscal year, aiming at facilitating local production and thereby moving towards local manufacturing.
He said the government wanted to decrease customs’ duties on raw material and also wanted to document the non-tax businesses to bring them in the tax net. He said exports to different regions had increased as the exports to the Middle East went up 36 per cent, African regions 10 per cent, while the exports to Central Asian Countries especially Uzbekistan were also on the rise.
The adviser emphasized the need for exploiting the huge opportunities of increasing exports in the health and safety products like personal protective equipment (PPE), including protective masks, gloves, sanitizers, clothing, helmets, goggles and other garments or equipment designed for protection from COVID -19.
He said a summary in that regard would be presented to the cabinet, while the ministry was also negotiating the future strategy for increasing the exports to help export-led economic growth. “We should conclude our strategy and start manufacturing in different sectors to achieve our export targets,” he added.
Replying to a question, he said the government was equally focusing on all sectors of the economy, including textile, non-textile, and agriculture and engineering sectors, to build the export potential of the country in the coming months.
Talking about the external trade situation, he said that in the last 10 months (July-April) of the current fiscal year 2019-20, the overall exports were declined by four percent as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
He said the exports increased by 13 percent in February, however, they started reducing from March which had declined the exports by 6.5 per cent as compared to the last year.
However, he said even during the current lockdown situation, at the beginning of COVID- 19 pandemic, Pakistan exported textile and non-textile products increased. Likewise, exports in steel articles also increased in the last three months.
Remove 17% sales tax on exports of textile and all other zero rated sectors , abolish that sro and immediately refund the sales tax which the government is holding using lame excuses or if you want to continue refund the tax@5•5% of the fob value along with rebate to exporters