FTA with China causing massive losses

Lahore : The Businessmen Panel of the FPCCI on Thursday said Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China is against the interests of Pakistan which is causing massive losses to our limping economy.

The trade deal was tilted towards China from the very beginning and all the attempts to make it balanced failed which has added to the losses to the economy and frustration of the business community, it said.

Both the friendly countries should make necessary changes in the Pak-China FTA without delay as it has not benefitted Pakistan but resulted in heavy losses, said Naseem ur Rehman, a central leader of the Businessmen Panel.

After the FTA Chinese exports have jumped from 3.5 billion dollars to over 16 billion dollars making China our biggest trading partner while Pakistani exports have increased slightly.

Naseem ur Rehman said that since 2006-07 the trade gap has surged from 2.9 billion dollars to over $32 billion which has created problems for the business community and the economic managers while China is not ready to make any meaningful change in the deal.

The business leader said that the share of Chinese imports in the non-oil sector has surged to 36 percent which must be noticed as the share of Pakistan exports has increased insignificantly.

The business leader noted that China has signed many trade deals with other countries and blocks which has left its deal with Pakistan irrelevant, therefore our authorities should not sign any trade deal with friendly countries which are at the cost of our economy.