Pakistani Traders Lose $981 Million Due to Closed Trade Routes with Afghanistan
The Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Afghanistan and Pakistan has reported that the closure of trade routes between the two countries over the past eight months has resulted in losses of nearly $981 million for Pakistani traders. According to officials from the chamber, restrictions on transit movement have caused a significant decline in bilateral trade and severely disrupted commercial activities.
Officials emphasized that the consequences of this situation are not limited to bilateral trade; Pakistan’s exports to Central Asian countries via Afghanistan have also considerably decreased. Due to its geographical location, Afghanistan serves as one of the major transit corridors in the region, and any limitations on these routes directly impact regional trade.
Sources from the Joint Chamber indicated that the reduced level of exports has led some manufacturing plants in Pakistan to halt operations due to loss of target markets. Additionally, Pakistani farmers have been forced to sell their products at lower prices in domestic markets because of the lack of export markets.
The chamber warned that the continued closure of transit routes will inflict even greater damage on traders and the private sector, further harming regional trade. Some sources have estimated the total economic loss to Pakistan due to this situation to be around $2 billion.
In past years, Afghanistan and Pakistan were among each other’s most important trading partners, with a large portion of bilateral exports and imports passing through shared crossings. However, the ongoing restrictions and the absence of a sustainable framework to manage trade relations have cast uncertainty over the prospects for economic cooperation between the two countries.
