Giving details of Pakistan's trade with China, he said that Pakistan's imports from China jumped to $14.13 billion and the exports were mere $1.5 billion in 2016-17, while the imports were $12.11 billion and exports were $1.7 billion in 2015-16 with a deficit of $10.44 billion. In 2014-15, Pakistan's imports from China were $10.17 billion while the exports were $2.13 billion with a trade deficit of $8.05 billion.
The minister informed the House the major exports of Pakistan to China consists of cotton yarn, rice, raw, hides and skins, crude vegetable material, chemical material, fish and fish preparations and crude minerals. The major imports from China consists of machinery (all sorts) and its parts, manufactured fertilizer, chemical elements, yarn and thread of synthetic fiber iron and steel, chemical materials, vegetable and synthetic textile fiber, road vehicles and their parts, tyres and tubes of rubber, he said.
He said the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan is the primary export promotion department of Pakistan. During the period from July 2012 to June 2017 (5 years), TDAP received funds amounting to Rs 5.15 billion from Finance Division and out of these funds TDAP incurred Rs 2.41 billion on promotion of export during the stated period.
The minister said that Rs 2.41 billion were fully utilized for promotion of the exports, adding that the former prime minister had announced the export package of Rs 180 billion for exporting business community, which is applicable for nearly 18 months for the period from January 16 2017 to June 30, 2018. To another question, he said the volume of Pakistan's trade with Afghanistan during 2016-17 was US $1623 million of which Pakistan's exports to Afghanistan amount to US $1286 million and the value of imports from Afghanistan to Pakistan was US $337 million.
He also informed the House that United States of America (USA) is a major destination for Pakistan's exports and total bilateral trade for the year 2016-2017 was recorded at around $6 billion. The minister informed the House that Pakistan's trade with India has also been facing a major deficit for the last four years including $ 1.5 billion trade deficit in 2015-16 and $1.34 billion in 2014-15.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017