Pak’s trade deficit hits record high in last two months: Report

In one opinion, The Express Tribune reported that the government’s own data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics shows that previous attempts to address the situation had clearly failed, with heavy export subsidies and currency devaluations helping to improve the numbers. did nothing for

With the country’s growing trade deficit, it is expected that some tough policy decisions will be taken in the coming weeks. Apart from losses, exports fell short of the government’s estimates for July and August.

According to the publication, Prime Minister Imran Khan called his financial team last month to find ways to reduce imports of non-essential goods, including automobiles. Despite this, the number of advertisements for new imported cars suggest that nothing of the offer has come to fruition.

“While we started the year with significant foreign exchange reserves, if this massive increase in imports continues, the cash will soon disappear. Further, since remittances are not anticipated to increase significantly, the government needs to increase foreign exchange. Reserves. Given the current credit problems, it would be disastrous,” The Express Tribune reported.

It further pointed out that Pakistan is not in a position to opt for consumption-led development unless the products being consumed are local. But the only way to do this would be to roll back heavy import duties and sanctions while transferring some failed export subsidies to manufacturers targeting the domestic market.

Meanwhile, inflation had risen to 12.4 per cent in February 2020, as reported by The Express Tribune.

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed.