Pakistan Allows Chinese Firms Operating in Gwadar to Retain 50% Export Earnings
Wire desk byline Sourced from Xinhua, Dawn, Arab News, Anadolu and Minute Mirror. Translated and abridged by the GSRRA Desk.
Pakistan has approved a key incentive allowing Chinese companies in the Gwadar Free Zone to retain 50% of their export earnings in special foreign currency accounts.
These funds can be used for current account payments abroad without prior approval from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), reported Express Tribune.
SBP has advised that long-term facilitation will require amending the Gwadar Port Authority Act to align it with Export Processing Zones and waive relevant sections of the 1947 Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.
The decision comes ahead of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in late August.
The committee, which includes Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, and SAPM Haroon Akhtar, has held several meetings and summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to China, Khalil Hashmi, for input. The ambassador has proposed a Business Conference in Tianjin on September 2, but some officials oppose the idea, citing the ineffectiveness of previous events where over 150 MoUs were signed without material investment.
The committee is also addressing longstanding infrastructure issues in Gwadar. It directed the Energy Ministry to arrange interim electricity from the Pakistan Navy for the desalination plant and asked the Power Division to expedite grid connections for the Rashakai Special Economic Zone.
Key investment barriers identified include inconsistent policies, delays in profit repatriation, exchange rate instability, and security concerns.
A sector-specific pitch book is also being finalised to attract investment in chemicals, steel, copper, EVs, solar panels, ICT, and food processing.
Reference Link:- https://propakistani.pk/2025/07/22/pakistan-allows-chinese-firms-operating-in-gwadar-to-retain-50-export-earnings/
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
