Pakistan Forecasts 6% Rise in Exports as Power Supply Improves: Bloomberg

By Farhan Sharif and Khaleeq Ahmed

July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s exports are expected to increase six percent this year as the government improves power supply and boosts support for the production of textiles, engineering goods and leather, Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim said.

Overseas shipments in the year that started July 1 are forecast to climb to $18.9 billion from $17.8 billion in the previous 12 months, Fahim said in a televised speech from Islamabad today. He said exports are forecast to increase 10 percent and 13 percent in the following two years.

Pakistan exporters are struggling to find buyers for the nation’s textiles and rice amid what the World Trade Organization says will be the worst contraction in global trade since World War II. HSBC Holdings Plc expects Pakistan’s $146 billion economy to expand as little as 0.8 percent in the year to June 2010, the weakest pace since 1952.

Shipments abroad from Pakistan have been hit by “structural impediments coupled with anemic global demand,” said Rohini Malkani, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in Mumbai. “We seek comfort in the government’s statements to enhance competitiveness.”

Pakistan’s exports may also improve amid signs of a recovery in the global economy. Fahim didn’t set a target for imports or the trade gap.

The International Monetary Fund early this month said the worldwide economic rebound in 2010 will be stronger than it forecast in April as the financial system stabilizes and the pace of contractions from the U.S. to Japan moderates.

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