Pakistan trade deficit during July-December 2011 period swelled to $11.476 billion, up by 38.48 percent against $8.287 billion for the same period of last year, according to the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS). Provisional trade figures released by the FBS on Wednesday showed that total exports of the country amounted to $11.237 billion, reflecting a growth of 3.90 percent over $10.815 billion for the same period of last year.
The country imported goods worth $22.713 billion during the first six months of the current fiscal year, up by 18.90 percent over $ 19.102 billion for the same period of last year. Analysis of the data showed that monthly trade deficit increased to $2.407 billion in December 2011, up by 10.56 percent over November 2011 on the back of $4.261 billion imports and $1.854 billion exports. Total exports of $1.854 billion in December 2011 depicted an increase of 19.46 percent over $1.552 billion for the previous month. The imports also jumped to $4.261 billion in December 2011, 14.27percent higher than $3.729 billion for November 2011.
A decline of 11.46 percent in exports during December 2011 over the same month of last year might be a source of concern for the economic managers, particularly because of its consequences on external account and foreign exchange reserves. The exports in December 2011 plummeted to $1.854 billion from $2.094 billion for December 2010, whereas imports for the period under review increased to $4.261 billion from $3.751 billion.
As a result, trade deficit for the month of December 2011 over the same month of last year swelled to $2.407 billion, higher by 45.26 percent over $1.657 billion for December 2010. According to analysts, the country can not afford rise in trade deficit for long term, with the current level of foreign exchange reserves, and no backing and support of any external inflows to strengthen external account. The rise in trade deficit could put the country in a balance of payments crisis, they said.
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