Pakistan''s exports declined by 9.2 percent in July 2011 over the previous month dipping to $2.2 billion compared to $2.4 billion for the month of June. Provisional trade figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), showed that exports have been relatively less in the month of July compared to $2.427 billion of previous month.
Analysis of the data revealed that trade deficit was $1.486 billion in the month of July 2011 with $2.2 billion exports against total imports of $3.6 billion for the month. The imports also declined by 4.5 percent in the month of July 2011 over the previous month. The total imports in July were $3.689 billion compared to $3.863 billion for the previous month. As a result trade deficit soared by $1.48 billion in July, 3.4 percent up compared to $1.43 billion for the month of June 2011.
The exports increased by 27.6 percent in July 2011 over the same month a year ago and reached to $2.2 billion in the first month of current fiscal year against $1.7 billion for July 2010. The imports also witnessed an increase of 13.8 percent and reached to $3.6 billion in first month of the current fiscal year compared to $3.2 billion for the same month of last year. Analysts say that increase in exports was primarily on account of higher commodity prices in the global market and may not be sustainable for longer.
The increase in exports, they say was little to do with the increase in the quantity and more was attributed to the increase in quantity price. They said that the decline in exports could be worry for the economic manages as rising trade deficit could put pressure on foreign exchange reserves which are so far strengthening by blessing of remittances and record exports during the last fiscal year.