Haq's Musings: Exports China

Sunday, September 27, 2020

UNIDO 2020: Pakistan Industrial Output Lags Behind Peers in South Asia

Manufacturing in Pakistan lags behind Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka in terms of manufacturing value added per capita as well as per capita exports of manufactured products, according to Competitive Industrial Performance Report 2020 released by United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Pakistan's Competitive Industrial Performance. Source: UNIDO

On the competitive Industrial Performance (CIP) Index, Pakistan ranks 82 among 152 countries, well behind India at 42, Bangladesh at 70 and Sri Lanka at 75. Only Maldives (144) and Nepal (135) rank lower than Pakistan. Bangladesh has built a very successful garments manufacturing and export business that rivals China's. The country is now focusing on building mobile phones and consumer electronics industry.

India's Competitive Industrial Performance. Source: UNIDO

Only 1.3% of Pakistan's manufacturing is high-tech and 9% medium tech, better than Bangladesh's 0.4% high-tech and 1.5% medium tech, but considerably worse than India's 9.4% high tech and 25.4% medium tech.

Bangladesh's Competitive Industrial Performance. Source: UNIDO

Nearly 40% of India's manufacturing output is based on locally extracted natural resources like iron ore and coal, much higher than Pakistan's 9.7% and Bangladesh's 1.9%. Pakistan's per capita manufactured exports add up to only $87 per capita, well behind Bangladesh $198 and India $208. Per capita manufactured output in Pakistan is $178 versus Bangladesh's $281 and India's $299.

China's Competitive Industrial Performance. Source: UNIDO

The most successful example of a manufactured exports-driven economy in Asia is China, ranked number 2 in the world, just behind top-ranked Germany. China's per capita manufacturing value added is $2,726 and its per capita manufactured exports add up to $1,685. High-tech manufactured products account for 30.6% of Chinese manufacturing output while its resource-based manufacturing is just 9.3% of its output.

Pakistan's Manufacturing Output Trend Since 2000. Source: World Bank

Manufacturing industries are defined by the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC). Value added is the net output of a sector after adding up all outputs and subtracting intermediate inputs.

Here's Pakistan's manufacturing output in current U.S. dollars:

Pakistan manufacturing output for 2019 was $34.66B, a 9.57% decline from 2018. In 2018, it was $38.33B, a 4.88% increase from 2017. Pakistan manufacturing output for 2017 was $36.54B, a 8.56% increase from 2016. It was $33.66B in 2016, a 2.73% decline from 2015.

Pakistan Manufacturing Output Peer Ranking 2019. Source: World Bank

Pakistan’s overall exports have continued to lag behind those of its South Asian counterparts since the early 1990s. Bangladesh’s exports have increased by 6.2 times compared to Pakistan’s, measured in terms of exports per capita, and that of India by 6.8 times, according to Princeton's Pakistani-American economist Atif Mian.

Exports Per Capita in South Asia. Source: Dawn

Pakistan's average economic growth of 5% a year has been faster than the global average since the 1960s, it has been slower than that that of its peers in East Asia. It has essentially been constrained by Pakistan recurring balance of payment (BOP) crises as explained by Thrilwal's Law. Pakistan has been forced to seek IMF bailouts 13 times in the last 70 years to deal with its BOP crises. This has happened in spite of the fact that remittances from overseas Pakistanis have grown 24X since year 2000. The best way for Pakistan to accelerate its growth beyond 5% is to boost its exports by investing in export-oriented manufacturing industries, and by incentivizing higher savings and investments.