Pakistan, Iran fail to boost trade

Pakistan and Iran aim to boost trade to $10 billion, but the bilateral trade plummeted to almost zero during the first 10 months of the outgoing FY24. The State Bank’s latest trade data showed a decade-long trade decline between the two countries, with exports and imports hitting zero in FY22. Trade picked up slightly in FY23 when exports were $75,000, but imports were zero, showing no interest from both sides despite great potential for trade. Exports dropped to just $11,000 during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year compared to $74,000 in the same period last year. The late Iranian President Raisi, during his visit to Pakistan in April, expressed a willingness to increase bilateral trade to $10bn. The financial year FY17 was relatively better for the trade between the two countries as the exports were $29.79m while the imports were $0.22m.