ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s exports have posted a growth of 18.3 percent to $2.357 billion in December 2020 as compared to $1.993 billion in corresponding month of 2019.
However, exports during the first half (July-December) 2020-21 witnessed an increase of 4.9 percent to $12.104 billion as compared to $11.533 billion in the corresponding period of 2019-20.
“It gives me immense pleasure to inform that according to provisional data, Pakistan’s exports for the month of December 2020 have grown by 18.3 percent to $2.357 billion as compared to $1.993 billion in December 2019, showing an increase of $364 million over December 2019. This is the highest export ever in the month of December,” said Abdul Razak Dawood, in a tweet.
Prime Minister’s Advisor on Commerce and Investment further stated that for the period July-December 2020-21, exports increased by 4.9 percent.
“This shows the resilience of the economy of Pakistan and it is a vindication of the government’s policies to keep the wheels of economy running during Covid-19 pandemic. I commend our exporters for achieving this feat during these testing times and urge them to aggressively focus on capturing a larger share of international trade,” he tweeted, adding that exporters were a great asset for the country and he saluted them.
The PBS website shows that the increase in exports during the same period of FY 2019-20 was recorded at 3.15 percent as compared to July-December 2018-19.
Commerce Ministry, however, has not shared provisional data of imports of December 2020 and July-December 2020-21, which may hint at imports posting higher growth as compared to the corresponding period of the year before.
PBS data shows that imports declined by 16.90 percent in July-December 2019-20 as compared to same period of 2018-19.
Meanwhile Prime Minister, Imran Khan has also congratulated exporters on achieving record exports in December with a growth of 18 percent over the previous year.
“Well-done and keep up this trend. A major pillar of our government’s economic policy is export enhancement and we will provide full support to promote export culture,” he tweeted.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021