MULTAN, Nov 26th: The Business Community of Southern Punjab has urged upon the Government to take all the stake holders into confidence before introducing its revised Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF)as existing STPF failed to enhance tumbling exports of the country. President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) Malik Asrar Ahmed Awan said that Government had decided in principle to revise the STPF in June because it is falling to yield the results but Govt could not reach to any conclusion in spite of elapsing five months while it must be revised in July. It may be recalled that the three-year STPF was approved by the government last year. The framework aimed to expand exports to $35 billion by 2018, improve export competitiveness, shift the economy from factor-driven to innovation-driven and increase the share in the regional trade. However, exports had continued to fall because there was no development in this regard. Malik Asrar Ahmed Awan said that commerce ministry was running as snail's pace and it was reluctant to consider 850 recommendations/suggestions/proposals from different stakeholders for boosting exports.He said that revised trade policy must be announced immediately by shedding red-tapism and Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi should approve this policy without any further delay.Explaining the major reasons identified for failure of the STPF were: the framework was not properly structured; notifications of the five major schemes were issued late, cumbersome procedures for availing the schemes. Under the existing STPF, claims of only Rs3.3m were received in two years from exporters while a bulk amount of Rs4b was lapsed and subsequently surrendered to the Ministry of Finance.Meanwhile, the exporters had recently demanded of the government to waive surcharges of Rs3.53/kWh to bring the tariff to Rs7/kWh from the current Rs10.5/kWh. They had also asked to reduce gas price to Rs600/mmbtu for the exports sector. The textile associations requested to clear sales tax and customs refunds and extending zero-rating facility to packing material and power looms.The government wants to enhance exports to control the widening current account deficit (CAD) of the country, which surged by 122 percent to $5.013 billion in the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year as compared to $2.259 billion of a year ago. The CAD is widening as higher imports growth offset the improvement in exports. The current account deficit is likely to touch $18 billion by the end of current fiscal year, which would further pressurize the forex reserves. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves had dropped by over $4.5 billion in the past one year due to fast drying up of foreign currency inflows. Pakistan’s official foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) are $13.5 billion.
