AN HISTORICAL EVALUATION OF “EXPORTLED GROWTH” POLICY IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

An historical review of Pakistan’s trade history shows that economy had led exports more than the export led the economy. Economic growth has responded to the emphasis on domestic market rather than on trade. Economic growth was robust in 1980s but the rate of growth of exports was even less than the average annual export growth of 1970s. The slogan ‘export-led growth’ was adopted in 1990s but the rate of growth of exports fell from 13.5% in 1970s to 5.6% in 1990s and the average annual GDP growth remained less than 5%. The slogan export-led growth coupled with extreme liberalization of trade has seen imports immensely outstripping exports to open an alarming current account deficit in the 2000s.