FY12 trade deficit widens to $21bn

MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN

ISLAMABAD: The country's trade deficit has widened by 36.3 percent to $ 21.271 billion in FY11-12 as compared to $ 15.604 billion in FY 2010-11.

According to official statistics released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Tuesday, the country's exports have declined by 4.7 percent to $ 23.641 billion against $ 24.810 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Imports have shown an 11.13 percent growth from $ 40.414 billion in 2010-11 to $ 44.912 billion in 2011-12.

The provisional figures further reveal that the exports showed an 11.6 percent negative growth to $ 2.141 billion in 2011-12 against $ 2.422 billion in 2010-11.

However, imports indicated a growth of 3 percent to $ 3.979 billion in 2011-12 from $ 3.863 billion during the same period in 2010-11.

These statistics indicate that trade deficit shows a 27.55 percent growth in 2010-11 from $ 1.441 billion to $ 1.838 billion in 2011-12.