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Thursday March 28, 2024

Exports up 13.4pc to $17.1bln in Jul-Mar

By Tariq Ahmed Saeedi
April 10, 2018

KARACHI: Exports increased 13.4 percent to $17.080 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year of 2018 with Pakistan expected to record annual outbound shipments of $24 billion – a respectable jump after years of downturn, trade analysts said on Monday.

In March, exports rose 24.36 percent to $2.231 billion over the same month a year earlier, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Exports rose 17.3 percent in March over February.

Analysts said the country’s annual exports would reach around $24 billion, up 17 percent over the last fiscal year of 2016/17, keeping in view the monthly exports figure and considering that the impact of second rupee devaluation has yet to come in.

“With close to 10 percent fall in rupee versus dollar, we may see exports reaching close to $24 billion in FY2018,” Mohammad Sohail, chief executive at Topline Securities said. The central bank decided to maintain policy rate at six percent for April and May, while keeping “the lagged impact of exchange rate flexibility and its second round effects (specifically through adjustments in fuel prices)”, as a consideration.

“The full impact of recent exchange rate depreciations on exports and imports is going to unfold gradually in the coming months,” the State Bank of Pakistan said in a monetary policy statement last month.

Government attributed recovery in exports to incentives worth Rs180 billion announced for the exporters in January 2017. While the government expected a 10 to 12 percent increase in exports for the current fiscal year, the recovery seems to be around 20 percent.

PBS data further showed that imports also soared 15.66 percent to $44.379 billion in the July-March period as capital-intensive imports continued to increase. Trade deficit, during the period, widened 17.3 percent to $27.299 billion.

Multibillion dollars Chinese-pledged corridor projects opened a floodgate of machinery imports over the last couple of years. Energy sector accounts for $38 billion out of the $50 billion plus worth of investment commitments. While power sector’s machinery imports started decelerating, they are still making the biggest import bills.

In March, imports increased 6.1 percent year-on-year to $5.28 billion over the same month a year ago. Imports rose 10.1 percent month-on-month in March. Government has been trying to contain import bill through regulatory duties since December last year. It slapped duties on non-essential imports to save two to three billion in foreign exchange during the current fiscal year.