The government is expected to achieve the export target of $12.1 billion in the current fiscal year as shipments have already covered 58 percent, requiring $1 billion a month worth of exports to reach another milestone.
Pakistan's exports in seven months up to Jan 31 rose 13.5 percent, led by higher shipments of textiles to US, European Union and Turkey.
Exports in the July-January period rose to $6.97 billion from $6.14 billion a year earlier. Imports gained 16.2 percent to $7.95 billion, resulting in widening of the trade deficit to $980 million from $700 million, according to Federal Bureau of Statistics.
Exports in January were up by 4.62 percent, compared with the exports worth $1.045 billion achieved in December 2003.
The country's imports in January stood at $1.344 billion, showing an increase of 27.65 percent over imports worth $1.053 billion in the corresponding month of last fiscal year.
According to an analyst, rise in imports clearly indicates that the industrial activity is on track and latest figures posted on the website of the State Bank showed that growth rate has surpassed previous financial year level.
Textiles showed a recorded growth of 4.64 percent in five months of the current fiscal year, up from 3.51 percent of the same period a year ago.
Similarly, leather products, pharmaceuticals, metal industries and fertiliser sectors grew from negative trend to 42.60 percent, 14.68 percent, 21.42 percent and 7.77 percent respectively.
The growth in these sectors will also help government to boost its revenue collection level in the running fiscal year.
The country is seeking to export more to revive an economy hurt by war in Afghanistan and three years of drought. The central bank has cut interest rates charged for export finance six times since November 2002 to 1.5 percent from 13 percent.
The government estimates that exports may increase 9.7 percent to $12.1 billion and imports may rise 5 percent to $12.8 billion in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004.
"We expect the country to achieve the export target set for the current fiscal year," said Khalid Iqbal Siddiqui, research analyst at Investcapital Securities in Karachi. Higher sales and cut in financing cost will boost the earnings of the textile companies, he added.
The State Bank of Pakistan, central bank, cut its discount rate to a record low 7.5 percent in November 2002, to spur economy and exports. Since then, treasury bill yields have fallen more than 6 percentage points, with benchmark one-year treasury bills trading at 2.00 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed.