Dr Shahzad Arshad Chairman, Pakistan Cotton Fashion Apparel Manufactures and Exporters Association as well as Deputy Chief Co-ordinator, Pakistan Apparel Forum said that July-April trade deficit rises to 16.08 billion dollar. He said this in a press statement issued here on Wednesday.
Shahzad Arshad opined that the country's trade deficit rose to an all time high of 16.08 billion dollar in the first 10 months of FY08, mainly because of sky rocketing prices of crude oil and dwindling exports, bringing foreign exchange reserves under enormous pressure.
According to information received, the imports recorded 32.061 billion dollar against 15.255 billion dollars exports during July-April pointing out towards the fragility of the country's economy, he added. He further said that with the rising import bill, the deficit likely to swell to 20 billion dollar by the yearend. Trade deficit for the last fiscal year stood at 13 billion dollar.
Increasing crude oil prices as well as luxury items in the import bill and the dwindling exports have pushed the trade deficit to an all time high during the period under review, he added. He said that official statistics released by the FBS, last week, showed 32.061 billion dollar imports, which were double of the total exports ie 15.255 billion dollar during the period under review with 50.78 percent trade deficit.-PR
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