ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Prime Minister’s Advisor for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood has said that decisions regarding the economy have started yielding positive results, and expressed confidence that exports will further increase and imports decrease in the ongoing year.
While addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Monday, the adviser said that the ban on the import of furnace oil and non-essential food items also benefitted the economy.
Abdul Razak Dawood said that exports have registered an increase of 4% in last 7 months in dollars, which translates into 30% increase in terms of Pakistan rupee. He said that exports in the first 7 months of current fiscal year remained $13.259 billion. He said that cements exports have registered an increase of 50 percent, mainly to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The advisor also said that imports remained $32.54 billion as compared to $34.26 billion during the corresponding period last year. He said that the trade deficit has reduced from $21.3 billion to $19.2 billion.
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The prime minister’s advisor said that the imports squeezing policy is paying the dividend and expressed the confidence that its results will be far more encouraging in the next 5 months.
In addition, he said that the result of currency devaluation will be visible on exports trajectory in the coming 5 months.