The country''s trade deficit swelled to $12.238 billion in ten months of the on-going fiscal year as a result of $15.884 billion exports against $28.122 billion imports during this period. According to provisional trade figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) here on Tuesday, the trade deficit for the on-going fiscal year is 13.92 percent less as compared to the same period of last year.
The trade deficit was $14.218 billion in July-April 2008-09 while in July-April 2009-10 the trade deficit, because of government policy to curtail imports, reduced to $12.238 billion. The increase of 8.03 percent in exports during the current fiscal year also contributed to narrowing the trade gap.
The exports increased to $15.884 billion in July-April 2009-10 from $14.703 billion when compared with the same period of the corresponding year. Further analysis of the data showed that exports declined in April 2009-10 as compared to March 2010. The decline of 3.88 percent curtailed the exports in April 2010 to $1.737 billion against $1.807 billion of March 2010. The monthly trade deficit was $1.278 billion due to $1.737 billion exports against $3.015 billion imports for the month.
A comparison of March with April 2010 showed that both imports and exports declined in April 2010 as compared to March 2010. The exports in March 2010 were $1.807 billion, which declined to $1.737 billion in April. Similarly a decline of 8.26 was noted in imports when it decreased to $3.015 billion in April 2010 from $3.287 billion in March 2010. As a result the trade deficit of 1.278 billion in April was 13.61 per cent less from $1.479 billion for March 2010.
Exports in April 2010 grew by 31.45 percent compared to the same period of last year as it surged to $1.737 billion in April 2010 from $1.321 billion in April 2009.