ISLAMABAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's exports have seen a 54 percent reduction in the month of April as compared to last year, due to a fall in demand from international buyers in the wake of the global outbreak of COVID-19, local media reported on Wednesday.
The overall exports have dropped to 957 million U.S. dollars in April from 2.08 billion U.S. dollars mainly due to the order deferrals and cancellations related to the pandemic, Dawn News reported, quoting the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The major blow on the exports came from the importers of Pakistani goods in the North American and European countries that contracted the demand of Pakistani goods during the period, according to the report.
Closure of shipping lines, restriction on the arrival of exports containers at ports by authorities, and closures of land routes and borders with neighboring countries including Iran and Afghanistan were other reasons of drop in the country's exports, the report added.
On year-on-year basis, Pakistan saw a decline of 3.92 percent of exports to 18.408 billion U.S. dollars during July-April of FY20 from previous fiscal year's 19.16 billion U.S. dollars, mainly due to the disease outbreak and drop in export figures during March and April.
Despite the fall in demand of Pakistani goods mainly in textile sector, the government is hopeful that things will get better. In a recent conversation with media, Abdul Razak Dawood, advisor to Pakistani prime minister on commerce, textile, industry and production, and investment, said that his country has started getting export orders again after a brief halt by international buyers.
The local paper's report said that the new orders of the exporters include anti-bacterial and anti-fungal cloth, pillows cover, medical gowns, towels, bed sheets, and masks.
In order to revive the export sector, the government has also allowed the industries under the sector to resume their work despite lockdown, by following certain standard operating procedures formed by the government.
The government also gave cash subsidies to export-oriented sectors to help them overcome liquidity crunch during the pandemic crisis. Enditem
