The Asian Development Bank in a report has said that Pakistan does not have a significant trading relationship with its proximate neighbours in South Asia and the country exhibits one of the lowest trade-to-GDP ratios in the world showing at just 30 per cent, reported local media.
One viable strategy that Pakistan can adopt to boost its growth is to further open its economy to trade. At just 30 per cent, Pakistan exhibits one of the lowest trade-to-GDP ratios in the world, even when taking its size into account, Dawn quoted the ADB as saying in its report titled 'Pakistan's Economy and Trade in the Age of Global Value Chains'.
Pakistan's trade as per the existing pattern is currently oriented to the US, Europe, and China. It specialises in textiles, though some of its agricultural products are sold to the Middle East, according to the report.
Islamabad does not have a significant trading relationship with its proximate neighbours in South Asia. The only economy for which it is a major market is its northern neighbour Afghanistan said the report.
According to Dawn, the vast majority of Pakistan's export products fall under the textiles grouping, formal measures of export concentration suggest that Pakistan's exports basket is relatively more diversified, especially compared with other major textile exporters like Bangladesh and Cambodia.
The ADB's report used statistics from 2019 since 2020 was an unusual year [owing to COVID-19] portraying a snapshot of economic openness across various levels of GDP for 166 countries and economies with available data, and for economic openness of Pakistan, it says it is less open than India and Bangladesh. It is only more open than Ethiopia, Brazil and Sudan, reported Dawn.
( With inputs from ANI )
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