ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a high-level committee to examine a proposal for declaring an “export emergency” as Pakistan seeks to double its export earnings to $60 billion within four years by removing structural and administrative bottlenecks, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference, Iqbal said the committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, would review wide-ranging proposals aimed at boosting exports. He noted that the planning ministry had recently briefed the country’s civil and military leadership on strategies to reduce dependence on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with export-led growth at the centre of the plan.
The proposals include declaring an export emergency, setting up a Prime Minister’s Hotline for exporters, and maintaining a PM-led dashboard to ensure genuine tax refunds are released within 30 days. Iqbal highlighted that delays in refunds remain a major hurdle for exporters.
His remarks came days after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) reported a Rs330 billion tax shortfall, despite issuing 47% fewer refunds in December. While the lower-than-expected shortfall reduced the likelihood of a mini-budget, Iqbal said it had further burdened existing taxpayers and strained public finances. He added that due to weak revenue performance, both federal and provincial governments were facing difficulties, with development spending constrained by limited releases from the finance ministry.
According to Iqbal, only Rs210 billion, or 21% of the annual development budget, was utilised in the first half of the fiscal year, though spending is expected to accelerate in the second half following additional releases.
The Dar-led committee is expected to submit its final recommendations to the prime minister next week. Iqbal stressed that increasing exports to $60 billion in four years — and to $100 billion over the next decade — was the only viable path to avoid repeated bailouts from friendly countries and the IMF.
“If exports are not raised beyond $60 billion, we will again be forced to seek external support,” he warned, noting that Pakistan currently owes nearly $13 billion in short-term loans to friendly countries.
Among other proposals, the planning ministry suggested making national holidays optional for export-oriented industries in consultation with workers to prevent costly disruptions in production cycles. It also recommended that the prime minister personally engage with the top 200 export-potential firms and visit a leading exporter every fortnight.
The ministry further called for fast-tracking high-quality special economic and industrial zones through the Board of Investment, transforming Pakistani diplomatic missions into trade-focused missions, and developing an economic diplomacy plan led by the ministries of commerce and foreign affairs. Engagement with the Pakistani diaspora for investment, knowledge transfer and export development was also proposed.
Additional recommendations included restructuring key ministries to align with an export-driven economic agenda, focusing on value addition, market diversification and increased global market share. Reviews of free trade agreements and stronger use of joint ministerial commissions were also advised.
Iqbal said Pakistan faced a strategic choice between a business-as-usual trajectory that could expand the economy to $600 billion by 2035, or an ambitious reform path to reach a $1 trillion economy. He noted that Pakistan’s exports had grown only 4.1 times over the past 24 years, compared with a 26-fold increase in Vietnam’s exports.
He acknowledged that Pakistan captured only a small share of global opportunities, with the biggest gaps in value-added textiles, agriculture, services and industrial diversification into engineering goods.
Reiterating that the economy had stabilised, Iqbal said first-quarter growth stood at 3.7%, inflation had eased, and large-scale manufacturing recorded 5% growth in the first four months of the current fiscal year. He rejected claims that the growth figures existed only on paper, saying they were compiled through internationally validated and transparent procedures.
Story by Shahbaz Rana
