Pakistan's exports have been a chronic issue and in the last few years, an overvalued exchange rate dramatically accelerated the decline in the country's exports.

But exchange rate is only one of several issues that have made Pakistan's exports uncompetitive. In this episode, Uzair Younus spoke with Dr. Gonzalo Varela about why Pakistan's exports have fared poorly and how this can be changed.

Dr. Gonzalo Varela is a Senior Economist in the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice of the World Bank. He is currently based in Islamabad, where he leads the trade program. Previously, he worked in the World Bank’s Global Trade Unit in Washington, in the Ministry of Industries of Uruguay, and in the private sector.

He also taught in the University of Sussex, the University of Pisa, and the University of Trento. His work focuses on how trade and investment policy affect firms’ performance, and it has been published in peer-reviewed journals, books and reports. He holds a PhD in Economics from Sussex.