Growth of SAARC'S foreign trade in a comparative perspective

Abstract

The objective of this article is analyse the growth, and trend of South Asia foreign trade with World foreign trade. SAARC is not only an important exporter but also a significant importer. Today SAARC is exporting and importing several products, i.e. capital goods, consumers good, raw materials and intermediate products for boosting the manufacturing and export sectors. This study finds the very low export and imports share of South Asia in World trade during the study period 2000 to 2019. However, India is the highest contributor in the exports and imports to South Asia. India is also the largest economy in the region, having the highest population and the highest GDP growth rate. With other high growth economies such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in South Asia, the region is economically important from India’s trade perspective.