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| Pak prefers losses to granting MFN status to India? | | | Even after the lapse of 15 years' of
India having granted Most Favoured
Nation(MFN) status to Pakistan Islamabad continues to dither on reciprocating New Delhi's gesture.In fact by granting MFN status to Pakistan New Delhi wanted to set the stage for promoting cordial ties with Islamabad.But hitherto Islamabad has been influenced by political considerations while deferring granting MFN status to India.That the main reason behind Islamabad's delay in gr anting MFN status to India is political instead of trade and commerce because in the absence of MFN status to India Pakistan has been losing about two bilion dollars a year.This figure is contained in a report prepared by two Pakistani experts.Had the report been prepared by any India based trade and financial expert one could have dubbed that biased against Pakistan.In reality there has been a jaundiced view on the need for liberalising trade transactions between India and Pakistan which could primarily be of greater benefit for Pakistan than India.
How? it is all simple.Pakistan imports about 1934 items from India against 6,000 items from other countries,incluiding Mexico,Brazil,Australia and Germany.The items imported from distant countries entails heavy losses to Pakistan because once these goods reach Pakistan their cost is higher than the goods imported from India.There are trade restrictions imposed by Pakistan as far as import of goods from India is concerned.This does not mean that Pakistan does not require additional goods from India.Islamabad requires a lot of items from India.This is borne out by the report that a number of goods made in India reach Pakistan through a third country.According to this report a large number of Indian goods are imported from Dubai.This way an Indian item imported via Dubai could cost 20 to 30 times higher than the item imported directly from India.
Politicians in Pakistan believe that once India was granted MFN trade status it could upset the economy of Pakistan.But the report prepared by Mujeeb Ahmed Khan,head of the research and policy analysis wing of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and Mohd.Iqbal Tabish,secretary general of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry has clearly indicated that delay in granting MFN trade status to India Pakistan suffers a loss to the tune of two billion dollars.Hence delay in granting MFN trade status to India is a major economic loss for Pakistan but Islamabad believes that it was better to suffer such losses instead of allowing some trade benefits to India.Ruling politicians in Pakistan seem to prefer causing economic bleed to India even if Pakistan is a big loser in the process.It is a sign of lack of wisdom when Pakistan is prepared to suffer heavy losses to removing trade restrictions on India.Atleast Islamabad should have realised that two billion dollars it would save from granting MFN status to India could be utilised on various programmes aimed at tackling the ongoing financial crunch and poverty in Pakistan .It could help Islamabad to reduce the level of its dependence on economic aid or grant from the US and other countries on one hand and on the other promote friendly ties with India. |
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