According to figures revealed on Saturday, Pakistan’s annual exports to the United States climbed by 35% to $9 billion in 2021–22.
Pakistan exported $7 billion worth of goods and services to the US last year. Masood Khan, the US ambassador to Pakistan, noted this net rise of $2 billion over the course of a year and declared, “There is great potential for further increase in our bilateral trade.”
Pakistan imported $3 billion worth of commodities from the US in 2021–2022, up from $2.4 billion in 2020–2021. As a result, the total value of trade between Pakistan and the United States rose from roughly $9.5 billion last year to $12 billion this year.
Ambassador Khan emphasized that the US has continued to hold the top spot as Pakistan’s top export market worldwide.
“If the exports continue to grow at the rate of 35 percent per year, the overall trade volume between Pakistan and the US will cross $20 billion in the next three years,” he added. “This would still be a modest goal given the immense potential that is there between the two markets.”
The significant increase in total exports from Pakistan, according to the ambassador, “should contribute to the stability of Pakistan’s economy and allay fears being stoked.” Market confidence is what we most need, he continued.
According to a breakdown, products made up $6.8 billion of all exports to the US in FY22, while services, including IT, accounted for $2.2 billion. The tech startups in Pakistan made over $800 million in revenue last year, of which 60% came from venture capital firms based in the US, particularly in San Francisco. Pre-seed, seed, and incubation stages of Pakistani entrepreneurs are now being supported by leading American venture capital firms like Kleiner Perkins, Tiger Global, and Sequoia.
According to Ambassador Khan, “the emphasis is on connectivity and productivity as well as tangible results,” and he said that early returns would be available soon.
Salman Sufi, the leader of the prime minister’s team for strategic reforms, met with US officials in Washington earlier this week to discuss several ideas for boosting bilateral trade.
He met with Courtney Dunn, director of the National Security Council, at the White House, and spoke with him about a variety of topics, including the restart of direct PIA flights to the US.
In order to ensure that Pakistani goods are approved domestically, the two parties also discussed placing a USDA official in Karachi.