Lost in aggregate numbers

The Express Tribune column describes Uraan Pakistan, the national economic plan introduced in late 2024, as a scheme aiming to take exports to $60 billion annually by 2029. Its author notes that the Ministry of Commerce has long stressed that provinces must carry part of the load, and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has since urged a joined-up, whole-of-government push on exports. The central obstacle, however, is that nobody can say how much each province exports, because the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reports exports by product and destination and the State Bank reports export receipts, neither by province.

Customs data log the departure port and the company named on each invoice, so a Multan mango sent out via Karachi ends up credited to Sindh, and K-P marble invoiced in Karachi is counted the same way. Since the Pak-Afghan border closure in October 2025, losses put at about $890,000 a day have fallen mainly on transporters and fresh-produce shippers in K-P, with Punjab affected to a lesser degree, and no provincial data exists to measure the split. Export structures differ widely: Punjab leads in textiles and surgical instruments, Sindh in chemicals and garments, K-P in marble and furniture, and Balochistan in minerals and dates. Federal policy, however, treats them alike.