Challenges on export front

Fourteen years ago, in FY10, Pakistan’s top 10 destinations for goods exports included the USA, UAE, Afghanistan, China and the UK, respectively. A decade later, in FY20, the top five export destinations changed a bit. The USA remained top but was followed by China, UK, UAE and Germany. Afghanistan disappeared from the list, data compiled by the State Bank of Pakistan reveals. These five countries continue to retain their position in the same order, according to FY23 stats. Between FY20 and FY23, export earnings from both the US and China have risen faster than from the UK, UAE and Germany. This growth in exports to the world’s two largest economies is largely attributable to our exporters’ ability to retain and increase their share in American and Chinese markets. However, it is also partly attributable to the fact that the state of Pakistan has painstakingly maintained a balanced approach in global and regional politics, making sure that its growing relationship with China does not affect its interest in the US markets and US administration. However, the Russian war in Ukraine and now the Israel-Palestine war, plus Pakistan’s fragile external economy, has created more complex challenges for Islamabad to back up its trade relations with the West with as much fine-tuned and balanced geopolitics as it has pursued for long.