Improving Regional Trade to Support Pakistan’s Economic Growth

Manzoor Ahmad ()
Additional contact information
Manzoor Ahmad: Regional Trade Advisor for the USAID Trade Project, Islamabad.

Lahore Journal of Economics, 2014, vol. 19, issue Special Edition, 461-469

Abstract: Regional trade has been an important factor in the economic success of many countries. Within most trading blocs, intra-regional trade comprises 40 percent or more of each member country’s individual trade. However, for the regional arrangements of which Pakistan is a member, intra-regional trade accounts for less than 5 percent. Pakistan’s strategic location is its greatest asset, but it has not leveraged this to its advantage. Although it was a relatively forward-looking country until the mid-1960s its policies have not been favorable to promoting trade and economic development since then. While other successful developing countries have espoused liberal trade regimes since the 1980s—resorting to protectionism only on a selective basis—Pakistan continues to rely on import substitution policies. Clearly, the country needs to revisit its regional and global trade policies.

Keywords: Pakistan; regional trade; Central Asia; regional trade routes; ports; Gwadar. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F10 L50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.lahoreschoolofeconomics.edu.pk/Economic ... %20Ahmad%20Final.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lje:journl:v:19:y:2014:i:sp:p:461-469

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Lahore Journal of Economics from Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Shahid Salahuddin ().