Pakistan's Finance Min asks companies to export 10% of products to earn foreign exchange

Islamabad, Aug 17 (PTI) Cash-starved Pakistan's Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Wednesday asked every company to export 10 per cent of its products to earn the much needed foreign exchange for the country.

Ismail made the remarks while addressing a local business summit in Islamabad amidst the uncertain future of the country due to the precarious balance of payment situation and burgeoning trade deficits.

The government is committed to provide every support to facilitate exports by the companies, he said, adding that without export oriented industrialization, the country was unable to make progress.

He said it was important to focus on enhancing exports through diversification and regretted that no attention had been paid towards the export sector in the past, which stagnated exports.

The minister rued that being an agricultural land, Pakistan had to import 1.1 million tonnes of wheat so far this year. 

He said a task force was set up to address the agriculture sector problems.

He also sounded confident about the balance of payment situation and due to the measures introduced by the incumbent government, the inflows of dollars had outpaced outflows during the current month.

Ismail told the business leaders that living within means, promoting exports, increasing agricultural productivity and focusing on children's education would put the country on the path of growth.

He observed that the country's debt had more than doubled during the past four years but asserted that it would be contained at Rs4 trillion during the current year.

The minister also highlighted the lack of quality education in the country as proper attention was not given to the key sector after 1970. He said future problems could only be solved if the children were properly educated.

Ismail also brought into focus the issue of rural and urban poverty and emphasized strategies to make the poor richer. 

Cash-starved Pakistan is facing growing economic challenges, with high inflation, sliding forex reserves, a widening current account deficit and a depreciating currency.

With the rising current account deficit at USD 13.2 billion in the first nine months and pressing external loan repayment requirements, Pakistan required financial assistance of USD 9-12 billion till June 2022 to avert further depletion of foreign currency reserves.