Though as yet very initial, there have been signs that the economy is beginning to make something of a recovery from the blow it got because of the covid-19 pandemic. The recovery has not penetrated the whole economy, and probably will not until demand picks up in the Western economies, which constitute the country’s largest export markets. However, where the first increase in automobile sales was marked in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. Nott only have vehicles sales risen, marking a rebound to pre-pandemic levels, but an increase in tractor sales indicate the farmers are paying more attention to BMR (Balancing, Modernization and Replacement) activities than heretofore. One sign that there is room for greater recovery is that there has not been an increase in the number of trucks sold, indicating that there has not been an increase of BMR among goods transporters It should be noted that this increase in sales is occurring despite the challenge that is proposed by electric vehicles, as well as by vehicle imports
One aspect that has received encouragement from the recent pandemic has been ecommerce, as people have turned to shopping online for their needs (and often enough merely their whims). In the first quarter for the current fiscal, the revenues reached Rs 96 billion, a year-on-year growth of 35 percent over the previous fiscal. The revenue increase has been paralleled by the increase in the number of ecommerce–capable merchants (as measured by those with the capacity for prepayment) from 1410 to 2164 in the past 12 months, according to information given to the National Ecommerce Council,, whose fourth meeting recently was attended by representatives of both public and private sectors and which was chaired by PM’s Commerce Adviser Razak Dawood.
A parallel development has been the test of 5G technology conducted by PTCL, at which a data transmission speed of 1.685 GB per second was achieved. Though 5G technology has a wide range of applications, it is particularly relevant to ecommerce, which will demand not just instantaneous communication between buyer and seller, but parallel and secure communication between the clients and their banks, as well as between the banks themselves. It should not be forgotten that ecommerce depends, on a strong backend, and it is the promotion of this is where the role of the state becomes crucial.
