Former President ICCI Shahid Rasheed Butt on Monday welcomed reaffirmation of Pakistan’s credit rating by Moody’s terming it a positive development.
The stable outlook reflects view of the international credit rating agency that the pressures Pakistan faces in the wake of the coronavirus shock and prospects for its credit metrics in general are likely to remain consistent, he said.
He said that Pakistani economy is resilient enough to face shocks, he said, adding that government and the exporters must be lauded for performing exceptionally well as compared to India, Bangladesh and other countries in exports.
Shahid Rasheed Butt said that despite dropping international trade due to the coronavirus, Pakistan exports for the month of July jumped by 5.8 percent while Indian exports fell by 13.7 percent while exports from Bangladesh dipped by 17 percent.
He said that it seems a miracle when the whole world is struggling to boost their productivity Pakistan has pulled back from a 54 percent dive in April, a 35 percent decrease in May and a six percent plunge in June.
He said that Pakistan overall exports jumped by 5.8 percent while the textile increased have increased by 14.3 percent which is a record for which the Credit goes to PM, his team and our resilient export sector.
The business leader said that increased exports is a very encouraging trend which must be preserved and protected as we can gain more as the threat of virus normalizes as many rival countries may not be in a position to cater to the needs of western buyers.
He demanded of the government to make sure that all measures that contributed to this positive development are maintained and strengthened.
The IMF has just projected that a decline in remittances is set to bring many hardships to countries just Pakistan where such inflows represent more than five percent of the GDP.