ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Committee on Exports and Production on Friday approved the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STFP) 2015-18 with a total budget of Rs20 billion to boost exports.

The policy targets to increase annual exports to $35 billion by the end of 2018. The support money for the first year of the policy was projected at Rs6 billion.

To remove chances of corruption, the support amount will be disbursed through State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) instead of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP).

“The SBP will verify export proceeds and issue support money to exporters directly,” a senior official in the commerce ministry told Dawn.

Apparently, there is no role of TDAP in the new policy that is under scrutiny for corruption. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has established several corruption cases against TDAP officers.

The three-year framework will be the third in a row. Earlier, two policies were not implemented satisfactorily. Sharing details of the new policy, a senior official said that the new policy will be limited in scope which will be implemented through a single statutory regulatory order (SRO) on the day of its announcement.

The focus of the policy, according to the official, will be to nudge businesses towards standardisation and certification. He said the current support on 10 per cent increase in export proceeds will continue in the new policy.

In less developed areas of South Punjab, entire Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, mark-up support will be provided on import of machinery.

The ministry of commerce plans to translate the new policy in Urdu for better understanding of people in less developed areas.

The TDAP is the implementing arm of the commerce ministry, which equally shares the burden of poor implementation of previous policies.

The TDAP lacks expertise in international marketing, the official said.

An official statement issued by the finance ministry said that finance minister at the outset of the meeting underscored the need for identifying and undertaking urgent measures to boost production and exports.

The relevant ministries were directed to immediately finalise their short term targets with corresponding action plans.

The meeting also took stock of the critical issues confronting the agriculture sector, including production constraints, commodity pricing, regulatory framework and input costs.

The committee directed the Ministry of National Food Security and Research to come up with proposals in consultation with provincial governments and relevant federal ministries and present them to the committee in its next meeting.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2015

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