By Bibi Amina Hakimi in ToloNews, Sept 5, 2023 at 5:48 PM
Officials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that exports to Pakistan have decreased by $66 million compared to last year.
They added that the most exported items are coal, cotton, fresh fruit, and dried fruit, and in the first five months of the solar year the trade with Pakistan reached $842 million.
“Our trade with all countries is running normally, especially with Pakistan, in the first five months of the year, we have exports of about $322 million and imports of $520 million. Our export items are mostly coal, cotton, grapes, raisins, fresh fruit, and dry fruit,” said Akhundzada Abdul Salam, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
The State Bank of Pakistan also reported that in July, Pakistan’s exports to Afghanistan increased by 32%, but imports from Afghanistan to Pakistan decreased by 76%.
“Exports have decreased, the reason is that a good product that we used to export was coal. The Islamic Emirate has raised the tariff on coal for a certain time, which caused the export to decrease,” said Shamsul Haq Shams, an economist.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce and Investment emphasized that to increase trade with Pakistan it is necessary to solve the trade challenges between the two countries.
“In the transit sector, both Afghanistan and Pakistan, especially Pakistan, should pay attention to how to have good transit based on international laws,” said Mohammad Yonis Momand, deputy of the Chamber of Commerce and Investment.
Earlier, in a special interview with TOLOnews, the acting Minister of Industry and Commerce said that exports worth $1.2 billion were made to Pakistan last year.
https://tolonews.com/business-184958
