July 2015: Expanding trade gap a wake-up call for govt

Reflects hurdles faced by exporters in selling goods to global market.

KARACHI: The widening trade deficit should be a wake-up call for the government as it indicates the difficultly exporters face in maintaining the share for their goods in slowing European and US markets, industry people told The Express Tribune.

The trade deficit, which is the difference between the value of goods a country exports and imports, rose 34.62% in July 2015 over the same month of previous year.

The data comes following a record $22 billion trade gap recorded last fiscal year and despite a decline in oil prices, which had traditionally been the biggest drain on the country’s foreign currency reserves.

“I fail to understand what the government is waiting for. This is high time for the industry and the government to sit and find a way out of this situation,” said Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association Chairman Shabbir Ahmed.

Members of the association had experienced an across-the-board decline in revenues, he said.



“This is happening despite the fact that we enjoy preferential access to the EU market under GSP Plus and interest rate is also lower at home. The only explanation is that this is a systematic slowdown in demand.”

Despite a rise in quantity, bed-wear exports dropped 2% to $2.09 billion in 2014-15 over the previous year.

Textile industry people have been complaining for months that they have not had any meaningful interaction with either Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan or Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

“I have never seen a commerce minister who will persistently ignore the private sector like Khurram Dastgir has been doing,” said Shabbir Ahmed, complaining that the minister did not even respond to phone calls.

“It has been over a year since we first raised the red flag. But no one has taken us seriously.”

Dastgir, who is on a trip to Belarus with the prime minister, held meetings with heads of various chambers but completely ignored a vital association, Ahmed said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th,  2015.

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