President Junaid Altaf stresses a holistic policy framework encompassing trade facilitation
PESHAWAR
The Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed grave concern over the widening trade deficit, which has increased by approximately 20 percent to around USD 32 billion during the first ten months of FY2025-26, posing serious risks to the country’s external account stability and foreign exchange reserves.
The SCCI President Junaid Altaf in a statement issued here on Tuesday emphasized that the persistent imbalance between imports and exports reflects underlying structural weaknesses in the economy and underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive, export-led growth strategy.
He furthermore stressed that sustainable macroeconomic stability can only be achieved through targeted policy interventions aimed at enhancing export competitiveness, diversifying export markets, and improving value addition across key sectors.
According to available data, Junaid Altaf said the import bill has witnessed a notable increase, while exports have declined during the period under review, further exacerbating the trade imbalance.
He observed that the current trajectory, where imports significantly outweigh exports, is exerting pressure on the balance of payments position and foreign exchange reserves.
The SCCI chief highlighted that temporary import compression measures have not yielded sustainable results and called for structural reforms to strengthen the export base.
President Junaid Altaf urged the government to rationalize energy tariffs for export-oriented sectors, ensure regionally competitive electricity and gas pricing to reduce input costs, review the prevailing monetary policy stance to facilitate affordable access to finance, particularly for SMEs, for industrial expansion, and ease the taxation regime to provide an enabling environment to compete with regional economies.
While acknowledging some improvement in the services sector, supported by growth in services exports, the Chamber reiterated that merchandise exports remain the primary driver of economic growth and require immediate policy focus.
SCCI chief further recommended discouraging non-essential and luxury imports through appropriate tariff rationalization, regulatory duties, and where necessary, targeted restrictions to conserve foreign exchange.
Senior office bearer called upon the government to adopt a holistic and coordinated policy framework encompassing trade facilitation, fiscal incentives, energy sector reforms, and ease of doing business measures to restore external sector stability, promote industrial growth, and enhance Pakistan’s global trade competitiveness.
