In a bold gesture of high handedness, Pakistan had formally suspended all trade relations on Friday in an effort to go against India’s decision to abrogate article 370 of the constitution, thereby removing the special status garnered to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. However, with this move, it seems that Pakistan has dug its own grave and jumped straight into it as the only ones suffering from the trade suspension are the Pakistani citizens.
With the latest developments in place, the Pakistani citizens have to pay as much as Rs 300 per kg for tomatoes. According to the report published in the associate website Zeebiz, traders in Azadpur mandi, which usually supply the most fruits and vegetables to Pakistan, have decided not to send goods there after the developments. The move has not only affected the price of tomatoes, but most vegetables are bearing the brunt, including potatoes and onions. On the whole, the prices of vegetables have doubled but the decision seems to have the worst impact on tomatoes. This decision has created a lot of panic in Pakistan.
According to Dawn, the federal cabinet headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan endorsed the decisions taken by the National Security Committee and the joint session of parliament, which include suspension of trade ties with India. One notification suspended all kind of exports to India, while the other banned import of goods of Indian origin or those imported from it.
Pakistan’s imports have already entered negative growth with almost all countries, except India, according to the Dawn.
This is over and above the strained trade relations between the two neighbours as after the Pulwama terror attack, India imposed 200 per cent customs duty on all goods imported from the Pakistan. Thus, imports from Pakistan declined by 92 per, according to the commerce ministry data.
After the Pulwama attack, Central Government pulled out all stops to isolate Pakistan on the international level, both politically and economically. Along with imposing a heavy customs duty, India also withdrew the ‘Most Favored Nation’ status. The economic boycott had taken a toll on the export trade of Pakistan, as well as the price of the essential commodities.
It is to be noted that Pakistan is currently facing severe economic crisis with short supplies of foreign currency reserves and stagnating growth. The IMF forecasts Pakistan’s economic growth will slow to 2.9 per cent this fiscal year from 5.2 per cent in 2018. In February, the State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s central bank had the only USD 8 billion bn left in foreign reserves.
Moreover, with the FATF grey listing the country risks losing $10 billion annually. In order to sustain the economy, Pakistan is on a borrowing spree and has borrowed a sum of 16 billion dollars over a period of 1 year from friendly countries including Quatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia and China.
After the removal of article 370, Pakistan has taken many such decisions in a hurry, due to which they are facing a lot of trouble. Prime Minister Imran Khan doesn’t realise that such hasty decisions will not affect India and will only further ruin the deplorable economy of the country.
