External debt management focused on (a) reprofiling of the stock of official bilateral debt, (b) substituting concessional loans for non-concessional from international financial institutions, (c) pre-paying expensive loans and (d) liquidating short term liabilities. Debt ratio was thus reduced from 100 percent of GDP to 60 percent in five years time.
Trade policy in Pakistan has been categorized by the World Bank as one of the least restrictive in S. Asia along with Sri Lanka and this policy has gradually provided incentives to exporters to increase their market share in the global markets.