Pakistan expects trade loss due to coronavirus, confirms commerce adviser

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities believe that the global outbreak of coronavirus may affect country’s trade but have not yet calculated the exact losses to be incurred on account of the epidemic, The News reported Friday.

“We have not yet firmed up exact losses to be incurred because of this virus but it is going to slow down our imports from China,” Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said while addressing a news conference on Thursday.

He said that Pakistan’s exports went up in value terms by 2.2 percent in first seven month (July-Jan) period of the current fiscal year, while exports of Bangladesh declined by 5.2 percent, India 3 percent and Thailand 2.4 percent.

Related: 'Banks to face cut in profits if Pakistan remains in FATF's grey list'

Abdul Razak Dawood, according to the report, said that Washington shared list of hundreds of items other than textile and other areas of strength for inclusion into Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) with the objective to grant market access.

However, he did not share list of items with journalists. The list was handed over to him by the US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross during his recent visit to Islamabad.

He stated that the government would analyse the list of items before making an assessment on real potential possessed for Pakistan’s request to grant market access into US market for boosting its struggling exports.

He said that Pakistan was hopeful that after striking a peace deal in Afghanistan, the US would establish long lasting and durable trade and economic ties with Pakistan. “It’s a long-term process and no instant results can be achieved on immediate basis,” the advisor said.

Read more: Pakistan, US fail to achieve breakthrough in promoting trade ties

When he was asked about Pakistan’s request for initiation of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, he said that it might require eight to 10 years to get the final shape.

On Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), he said that its meeting would be called in Washington. Pakistan, he said, raised the issue of travel advisory and told the US side that despite some improvement it did not help Islamabad attract investment from the US.

On the issue of GSP Plus from European Union (EU), he said that they were expecting that EU would extend its GSP Plus from 2020 to 2022 and its outcome was expected till first week of March 2020.

He said that the EU had already communicated that their new set of rules were changed so it could be extended up to 2022. To another query whether the premier was not happy with his performance, he replied that it should be asked from the premier instead from him.

Originally published in The News