Trade volume between Pak, UK during last calendar year remained GBP2,043 million
UK is the 3rd largest destination of the Pakistani exports globally
LONDON (APP) - The trade volume between Pakistan and the United Kingdom (UK) during the calendar year, January-December 2019, remained GBP 2,043 Million showing an increase of six percent as compared to the corresponding period last year (2018), High Commission sources said.
Head of Trade and Investment Wing of Pakistan High Commission London, Shafiq A Shahzad told APP that the UK is an important trading partner of Pakistan.
He said that in fact, the UK is also the 3rd largest destination of the Pakistani exports globally and the top destination within European Union (EU). Shahzad said within EU, UK is also main source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Pakistan.
Pakistan, he said, is also one of the largest beneficiaries of funding through British Department for International Development (DFID) programme. “All these facts prove the commercial importance of UK for Pakistan”, he remarked.
Pakistan, he said, was also benefiting from the grant of Generalized Scheme of Preference (GSP) plus status which has helped in picking up our exports revenue in the EU region at a time when exports in other markets were falling.
Highlighting the trade analysis, Safiq Shahzad said trade volume between Pakistan and the United Kingdom during the calendar year remained £ 2,043 million which showed an increase of 6 per cent as compared to the corresponding year of 2018.
He further informed that Pakistan’s exports during the year 2019 have registered a growth of 3.2 per cent which was a healthy sign and the imports from UK have shown a decline of 1.9 percent, that has improved the balance of Trade by 6 per cent as compared to the last year.
Mr.Shahzad added that during the year 2019 the composition of Pakistan’s export basket revealed a lion share of The textile group followed by Food Group.
He revealed that in the calendar year January-December 2017, Pakistan exports to UK stood at Pounds £1247 million,
January-December 2018 Pounds £ 1270 million and in January-December 2019 it remained at £ 1,311 million.
Similarly, he said that Pakistan’s imports from the UK in the year January-December 2017 registered £ 686 million, in the same period in 2018 stood at £ 746 million while these remained at £ 732 million in the year 2019.
Shahzad said that total trade volume between Pakistan and the United Kingdom in the year January-December 2017 stood at £ 1933 million, and in the year January-December 2018 it was £ 2016 million.
While, he said, that the total trade volume between Pakistan and the UK from January to December 2019 remained £ 2043 million.
Shafiq Shahzad further said the balance of trade between Pakistan and UK in January-December 2017 was £ 561 million, while it was £ 524 million in January -December 2018 and it stood at £ 579 million in January-December 2019.
