Introduction
2015 marks the third consecutive
year in which global trade grew less than 3%. In 2013, world trade growth rate
remained 0.5% against the WTO prediction of 2.5% and rose to 2.4% in 2014.
World Trade Organization recently lowered by 0.5% its estimate for world trade
growth from 3.3% to 2.8% for 2015.
Pakistan‟s exports crossed the
US$ 25 billion for the first time in 2013-14. However, year 2014-15 has
experienced decline in exports of about 4.78% due to exogenous shocks coupled
with domestic factors. Value added textile has shown some increase due to grant
of GSP Plus opportunity. However, world cotton prices went down and Pakistan
earned lesser returns on raw cotton, cotton yarn and cotton cloth.
Pharmaceutical products, surgical
goods/medical instruments, footwear, furniture, handicraft, gems and some food
products' exports have also shown significant improvement. Food group as a
whole was not able to perform upto the expectations due to the lost share of
the basmati rice market. Item wise details are at Annex - I.
Due to inelastic import demand,
Pakistan witnessed an increasing trend in imports. Major contributors to this
increase in imports are machinery (14.9%), transport group (21.7%), food group
(18.5%), chemical group (11%), metal group (20.3%) and miscellaneous group
(18.8%). There has been a significant decline in import of petroleum group by
21.3% and in textile group by 4.4%. Item-wise details of imports are at Annex –
II.
Learning from the previous two
medium term frameworks i.e. 2009-12 and 2012-15, it has been ensured that
procedural and budgetary bottlenecks are removed in STPF 2015-18. All business
processes have simultaneously been formulated. Budgetary allocation of Rs. 6
Billion has been approved to implement the trade policy initiatives for year
2015-16. Continued budgetary support in FY 2016-17 and 2017-18 will be critical
for achieving desired results.
Targets
STPF 2015-18 aims to achieve following targets by
June 30, 2018:
a. Enhancement
of annual exports to US$ 35 Billion
b. Improve
Export Competitiveness
c.
Transition from „factor-driven‟ economy
to „efficiency-driven‟ and „innovation-driven‟ economy
d. Increase
share in regional trade
Key Enablers
To
achieve the above targets, the key enablers are:
a.
Competitiveness (quality
infrastructure, labour productivity, access to utilities, and level of
technological development)
b.
Compliance to standards
(convergence of local & international standards, protection of intellectual
property, and effective and efficient disputes resolution mechanism)
c.
Policy environment (monetary
policy, tariff & tax regime, and synergic industrial & investment
policies)
Pillars
STPF
2015-18 has identified four main pillars on the basis of (i) key enablers,
(ii) evaluation of STPF 2012-15, (iii) emerging global trade scenario and
(iv) extensive consultation with the private sector and other stakeholders.
These pillars are as follows:
a.
Product sophistication and
diversification (research and development, value addition, and branding)
b.
Market access (enhancing share in
existing markets, exploring new markets, trade diplomacy and regionalism)
c.
Institutional development and
strengthening (restructuring, capacity building, and new institutions)
d.
Trade facilitation (reducing cost
of doing business, standardization, and regulatory measures)
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