Category: Uncategorized

Pakistan’s natural resources consist of arable land, coal, oil, petroleum, salt, limestone, gold and gas, all the way to uranium and even their vast access to fishing. Their oil reserves consist of 353,500,000 barrels of proven oil reserves as of 2016. Pakistan’s coastline is 814km and fishing plays a huge role in its exporting earnings. Pakistan produces the largest amount of natural resources collectively in the world. It has the fifth largest gold mines which contributes to the wealth of it’s country.

Two locations that produces the most natural resources in Pakistan are Reqo Diq and Thar. Reqo Diq produces 12.3 million tonnes of copper and 20.9 million tonnes of gold worth $260 billion to $3 trillion dollars alone. It is also suspected that Reqo Diq have numerous undiscovered rare elements used in the technology industry, which would make Pakistan a contender for China in this market. These elements are more valuable than gold because of it’s demand.

Pakistan has the potential to join the G7 in the future with it’s naturally rich lands. With a stable economy, they can expand exportation beyond the borders of neighboring countries. The rarity and abundance of natural resources puts Pakistan at an advantage making it hub for future booming businesses.

(focuspakistan.org) . (2013, April)

 

Figure #1 (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011)

Import and Export policies have a crucial role in a nation’s growth, it can heavily impacts a country’s fortune and it’s GDP. 

Pakistan have multiple bilateral and multilateral trade agreement with various nations and organizations. One of the top countries that Pakistan export to is The United States. In the year 2018 alone Pakistan exported material worth about $3,802 million to the US. Other countries that Pakistan import and export from are UK, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Kuwait and U.A.E. 

Pakistan exports cotton textile and apparel to the subcontinent and imports industrial raw material, Petroleum and many different consumer needs such as technology. 

When it comes to import and export, Pakistan has strict tariff rules. Since the country is not a part of free-trade agreement like many other countries, they maintain a high tariff rates. However, new policy guidelines are proposed related to 2020-2021 budget. Tariff on raw materials, intermediate and capital goods will be reduced. 

Pakistan’s export partnership with few of the businesses are listed below:  

• H&M 
• Porsche 
• Pepsi 
• Nike 
• Apple 
• Wal-mart 

The figure below shows the trade balance and how it is expanding/growing gradually between the the time period of July-august 2018 and 2019. The import and export are still growing even when the country is hit with a world-wide pandemic. 

 

 

Figure #1 (Farmer,2020)

Pakistan currently has a population of 223.6 million with a GDP of 278 billion USD, making it the fifth most populated country. Since Pakistan is still relatively a new country, its population speaks various dialects, “people speak as many as 74 languages” (Tayyab. A, 2019, Samaa. tv), and it’s also home to various different ethnic group. However, the national mother tongue of Pakistan is considered  Urdu.

Figure #2 (Misachi,  2019)

Since Pakistan has four province, each province carries it’s own unique ethnic groups. One of the largest ethnic group is Punjabi, which makes up 45% of the Pakistan’s population. “The group belongs to the Indo-Aryan ethnic group” (Misachi, 2019). The second ethnic group is Pashtun, the tribes belongs to East Iranian, which makes up 15% of Pakistan’s population. Other ethnic tribes are Sindhi that makes up 14.1% and Saraiki that makes up 8.4% of the Pakistan’s population.  

The currency used in Pakistan is known as Pakistani Rupees, with the PKR abbreviation. According to the Xe currency converter,  A US dollar is worth approximately 160 Pakistani rupees. When it comes to import and export Pakistan has strict tariff rules, it maintains the highest tariff rates. However, new policy guidelines are proposed related to the 2020-2021 budget. Tariffs on raw materials, intermediate, and capital goods will be reduced. 

According to Daily life and social custom, when it comes to natural resources, Pakistan’s land is rich in iron ore, petroleum copper salt limestone and extensive coal. Pakistan is also well known for its textile industry such as Cotton and Rayon. 

 

Largest Cities in Pakistan

#	CITY NAME	POPULATION
1	Karachi	11,624,219
2	Lahore	6,310,888
3	Faisalabad	2,506,595
4	Rawalpindi	1,743,101
5	Multan	1,437,230
6	Hyderabad	1,386,330
7	Gujranwala	1,384,471
8	Peshawar	1,218,773
9	Rahim Yar Khan	788,915
10	Quetta	733,675
11	Muzaffarabad	725,000
12	Battagram	700,000
13	Kotli	640,000
14	Islamabad	601,600
15	Bahawalpur	552,607
16	Sargodha	542,603
17	Sialkot	477,396
18	Sukkur	417,767
19	Larkana	364,033
20	Shekhupura	361,303
21	Bhimbar	342,900
22	Jhang Sadr	341,210
23	Gujrat	301,506
24	Mardan	300,424
25	Malir Cantonment	300,000
26	Kasur	290,643
27	Mingora	279,914
28	Dera Ghazi Khan	236,093
29	Sahiwal	235,695
30	Nawabshah	229,504

Pakistan’s economy has shown steady growth in the last few years. Currently, Pakistan has a mixed economy with state-owned enterprises contributing the most to the GDP. Over the decades, Pakistan’s economy have gone through trial and error to develop a successful economic model. It went from being an Islamic friendly economy, banning interest on loans, to a privatized economy. It’s GDP was heavily dependent on Agriculture as new independent nation until opening other sectors such as trading.

Although Pakistan’s economy is growing, it’s growing at a rate of 2% per capita annually. A few factors that play into it’s slow progress is the high population growth versus the output per capita. More than 50% of Pakistan’s population lives below poverty line countering it’s economic growth. Despite this factor, there’s an annual increase in growth which demonstrates Pakistan’s potential to thrive.