Pakistani Players Shine in International Snowboarding Championship
By Syed Anwar Shah
Swat:Pakistani players emerged victorious in Pakistan International Snowboarding Championship and Festival at the Malam Jabba ski resort in the scenic Swat Valley.
Razaullah won gold while Ahmed got bronze medals in the parallel giant slalom competition during anevent organized by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Tourism Department.
Pakistan’s Fatima Nadeem won the first position in the women's giant slalom competition, while Sara Nadeem and Ayesha Akmal won second and third positions respectively. Eight women, including three from Afghanistan, took part in the competition.
Taking to Twitter, PTI leader Senator Faisal Javed Khan said: "Glad to see how our country is witnessing an unprecedented tourism boost under PM ImranKhan".
Victor Roger came first, Julian Harry came second while Harry got the third position in the men's international snowboarding. All three belonged to Belgium.
In the men’s parallel giant slalom competitions, Razaullah from Pakistan won gold, Ahmed Saroush from Afghanistan got silver and Wakil Ahmed from Pakistan won the bronze medal.
In the women’s parallel giant slalom event, Sara Nadeem won gold, Fatima Nadeem won silver and Ayesha Akmal won the silver medal.
Besides eight women and men from Pakistan, the competition had the participation of 44 athletes from different countries including Belgium and Afghanistan.
The participants described the event as the best initiative of the K-P government. Foreign tourists termed Pakistan as a beautiful and safe place for international events.
"Pakistan is a safe and people-friendly country with beautiful places," they said. – The Express Tribune
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Pakistan Tech Exports Continue to Soar: Up 40% in last 6 Months Amid COVID19 Pandemic
By Riaz Haq
Pakistan's technology exports are continuing to soar amid the Covid19 pandemic. Tech exports jumped 43% in December 2020 and 40% in July-December 2020 period over the same period in 2019. This marks a rapid acceleration from a 21% increase in Fiscal Year 2020 (July-June 2020) over FY 2019. Tech exports (up 40%) far outpaced overall exports (up 5.1%) during this period.
The modest 5.1% increase in Pakistan's overall exports is specially commendable in the midst of the global economic devastation caused by COVID19 pandemic. What is even more commendable is the 19% jump in exports in December 2020 over the same month in 2019, indicating a strong upward trend.
Total monthly ICT exports hit a record $194 million in December 2020, up 43% from $135 million in December 2019. For the entire six-month period from July-December 2020, the ICT exports reached $958 million, up 40% from the same period a year earlier. Tech services exports now account for a third of all service exports of the country.
Pakistani diaspora sent home $14.2 billion in remittances in July-December 2020, up 25% from the same period in 2019. Pakistanis settled in the United Kingdom and the United States increased their remittances by 52% and 47% respectively in this period, helping Pakistan achieve a record $1.8 billion current account surplus in the first six months of the ongoing fiscal year 2020-21.
While Pakistan's exports increased a modest 5.1%, the remittances from overseas Pakistanis jumped a hefty 25% in response to an appeal by Prime Minister Imran Khan who remains very popular among them. He drew nearly 30,000 Pakistani-Americans to a rally during his Washington DC visit in 2019.
Pakistan's imports increased 5.5%, more than the 5.1% increase in exports, during the first half of the current fiscal year 2020-21. This resulted in a $12.4 billion trade deficit, marking a 5.9% increase. Without the 25% jump in remittances, Pakistan would most likely have a current account deficit rather than a surplus in this period.
The modest 5.1% increase in Pakistan's exports is still commendable in the midst of the global economic devastation caused by COVID-19 pandemic. What is even more commendable is the 19% jump in exports in December 2020 over the same month in 2019, indicating a strong upward trend.
Pakistani diaspora is the world's 5th largest with more than half a million Pakistanis migrating every year to work overseas. Over 11 million Pakistanis have left home for employment in Europe, America, Middle East and elsewhere since 1971, according to Pakistan Bureau of Emigration. The pace has particularly picked up over the last 10 years. This phenomenon has helped reduce unemployment in a country where about 2 million young people are entering the job market each year. It has also helped remittances soar nearly 28X since the year 2000.
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