China’s iron-ally Pakistan has become a cause of economic concern for the former as Beijing asked Islamabad to reduce imports. Addressing an event to mark the beginning of the local assembling of Chinese home appliances brand Midea, the Chinese envoy to Islamabad Li Bijian said that the bilateral trade is highly skewed against Islamabad, news agency Dawn reported.
“You import more and export less, even though my government in collaboration with your government is trying to narrow down the trade deficit,” Bijian said that China wants to see more balanced trade.
Pakistan’s central bank data shows that at least one-fourth of the total import bill in 2020-21 originated from Beijing, according to the report by Dawn. It also showed that exports to China accounted for less than 8%.
China and Pakistan have a free trade agreement which allows Pakistan to export more than 300 items to Pakistan without incurring any tariffs. Bijian also said that the trade situation is not developing as expected. The Pakistan economy, like most economies, bore the brunt of Covid-19 and has failed to rebound as expected.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has asked Pakistan - like it earlier asked Sri Lanka - to implement economic reforms which successive governments have been reluctant to follow and have looked at state-run banks in Beijing to bail them out in times of crisis. The IMF says that Pakistan owes China $24.7 billion in total external debt. The United States Institute Of Peace in an...
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