United States, China, UK top three destinations for Pakistani exports

The United States of America (USA) remained the top export destinations of the Pakistani products during first seven months of current financial year (2019-20), followed by China and United Kingdom (UK).

The total exports to the USA during July-January (2019-20) were recorded at $2.440411 billion against the exports of $2.366163 billion during July-January (2018-19), showing an increase of 3.13 per cent during the period under review, according to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

This was followed by China, wherein Pakistan exported goods worth $1.056773 billion against the exports of $1.038023 billion last year, showing nominal increase of 1.80 per cent. UK was the at third top export destination, where Pakistan exported products worth $1004.520 million during the current financial year against the exports of $1039.609 million during last fiscal year, showing decrease of 3.37 per cent, SBP data revealed.

Among other countries, Pakistani exports to United Arab Emirates (UAE) stood at $984.881 million against $743.474 million during last year, showing increase of 32.47 per cent while the exports to Germany were recorded at $799.324 million against $767.483 million last year, the data revealed.

During the first seven months, the exports to Afghanistan were recorded at $633.121 million against$ 676.197 million whereas the exports to Holland stood at $597.048 million against $546.690 million.

Pakistan’s exports to Spain were recorded at $525.942 million against $533.148 million last year where as the exports to Italy stood at $463.043 million against $448.649 million.

Similarly, the exports to Bangladesh during the current financial year were recorded at $440.909 million against $452.491 million while the exports to France stood at $257.809 million against $268.514 million.

Pakistan’s exports to Singapore were recorded at $126.657 million during the current financial year compared to $158.880 million last year whereas, the exports to Canada stood at $168.951 million against $172.429 million, to Saudi Arabia $278.966 million against $180.161 million whereas the exports to India stood at $17.672 million during the financial year against $250.167 million during last year.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication is making special efforts to promote IT exports and encourage IT companies.

IT & IT enabled services (ITes) export remittances have surged to $550.503 million at a growth rate of 24.71 per cent during the first six months of FY 2019-20 (July-December), in comparison to $441.435 million during same period in FY 2018-19, according to performance report of Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), an organisation under Ministry of IT and Telecommunication.

The number of PSEB registered IT & ITes companies has risen to 2163 as of Dec.30, 2019 compared to 1873 valid registrations as of December 2018 at growth rate of 15.5 per cent. PSEB facilitated 5 IT companies for attending Canada Pakistan ICT Forum, held in Toronto, Canada from Sept.23-27, 2019 besides facilitating participation of 20 IT companies in Pakistan Tech Summit 2019 in Norway on Sept.25 last year.

PSEB organised participation of Pakistan’s IT companies participation at China Hi-Tech Fair 2019 held at Shenzhen, China on Nov.14-17 2019. It also facilitated participation of Pakistan’s IT companies in Arabnet 2019, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 10-11 last year.

PSEB organised participation of 20 IT companies in ITCN Asia 2019 held in Karachi in September PSEB also organised Commercial Counselors Training session at PITAD in October last year to apprise them about the facts and potential of Pakistan’s IT industry in order to solicit their efforts for projecting Pakistan’s IT industry as viable and feasible outsourcing destination in key international markets.

Last month the banking sector in Pakistan gets a new boost as one of the leading credit rating agencies in the world, Moody’s Investors Service, has announced a stable outlook for the Pakistani banking system for the next 12 to 18 months in a new report released on Thursday.

“The sovereign credit profile has improved in recent months, benefiting the banks through their high exposure to government securities, which account for around 40 per cent of their assets,” said Constantinos Kypreos, Moody’s Senior Vice President, in a press release issued by the agency. The Moody’s report said that economic activity in the country will be supported by the ‘ongoing infrastructure projects and improvements in power generation and domestic security’. It further noted that the government’s decision to depreciate the rupee and trade gains may raise private investment from the current low levels in the country.

Agencies