Pakistan Economy A Closed house
Pakistan has always had uneven growth in its history of now 75 years. In spite of its large size and population, it is one of the least open economies in the world. Pakistan has one of the lowest trade-to-GDP ratios at just 30 per cent, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
As per the ADB, Pakistan is only more open than Ethiopia, Brazil and Sudan. A relatively large country, however its trade openness remains remarkably low.
ADB, in its report titled ‘Pakistan’s Economy and Trade in the Age of Global Value Chains’, says the economic openness of Pakistan is less than even Bangladesh, a country carved out of Pakistan in 1971. India by now is already the third largest economy in the World in PPP terms.
Even in the US $ terms, it us the fifth largest. Yet Imran the PM had the cheek to compare Pakistan’s economy with India. heaven China’s pledge to prop of CPEC against Indian manufacturing is nothing but a silly joke.
Pakistan’s exports are mostly dependent on textile products and thus its trade is less diversified. Pakistan’s exports are less diversified even than that of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Moreover, India’s GDP is almost 10 times larger than Pakistan even in US $ terms and 20 times in PPP terms.
It said that Pakistan’s trade is currently oriented to the United States, Europe, and China and it does not have a significant trading relationship with its proximate neighbours within SAARC.
The report further points out that the only economy for which it is a major market is its northern neighbour Afghanistan.
Concentrating too much on only a few sectors or products poses risks to an economy since shocks to the dominant sector can more easily cause an economy-wide recession, reported Dawn the Pakistani newspaper.
