Good news

On the economic front, we have hardly heard a good piece of news in the past two years or so. That’s why the extension by the European Union (EU) of the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus status to Pakistan comes as a relief to exporters. Though the inclusion of Pakistan in the list of beneficiary countries of the EU GSP Plus Scheme had promised immense economic benefits from 2014 onwards, we have seen moderate results. As reported to the National Assembly in February, by the parliamentary secretary for textile, Pakistan’s total trade with EU increased from nearly 12 billion dollars in the fiscal year ending 2014 to slightly over 14 billion dollars in 2019. In the competition for trade with the EU, Pakistan’s major rivals have been China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey and Vietnam.

Pakistan’s performance on the GSP Plus was monitored by the EU in terms of its commitments to act on the international conventions. These conventions are primarily related to good governance, especially pertaining to labour laws and rights, gender rights and equality, protection of the environment, human rights, climate change, and other core issues for ensuring sustainable social and economic development of the country. Now, whereas we have been able to get an extension, there should be no laxity in the matters related to these conventions and they should be placed very high in our national priorities. We are in a fortunate situation now after being acknowledged for our essential reform process for good governance. It is time for both private and public sectors to take ownership of these issues by playing a responsible role and continuing to show our commitment to international best practices. Since this extension is not indefinite but only till 2020, any gloating over this temporary success may result in a negative development in two years’ time.

Though the overall trade showed an uptick of just two billion rupees in the last five years, the higher performance of export was recorded at around three billion rupees. This is a substantial increase of over 60 percent in five years; that means every year we displayed an improved export performance of around 10 percent. Now the government should take additional measures to bolster our textile and garment sectors that have come under pressure during the past 20 months. Adviser to the PM on Commerce and Industry Abdul Razzak Dawood is a known industrialist and knows about the problems of the textile sector pretty well. Let’s hope that his efforts and experience in this matter give us more good news in the coming years.