Import bill of oil, food items up by 22.7pc

ISLAMABAD, April 18: Pakistan`s import bill of oil and eatable products has increased by 22.7 per cent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, contributing mainly to rising trade deficit of the country, suggests the data of Federal Bureau of Statistics issued on Monday.

As a result, the bill from these two essential commodities reached $12 billion during the July-March period of the current fiscal year against $9.78 billion of the same period last year. This rising trend sends signals of an overwhelming increase in the overall import bill by the end of June 2011.

Rise in the import of furnace oil for producing thermal power to bridge the power shortage and rise of oil price in the international market have contributed to the rise.

According to statistics, the government has projected that the import of furnace oil will reach 8 million ton this year against 6.5 million ton of the last year, indicating a growth of 23 per cent. At the same time, analysts widely agree that oil prices will cross $150 a barrel in 2011 as the global economy continues to improve following the recession in the past few years.

According to the FBS, the oil import bill reached $8.08 billion in the July-March period of the current fiscal year against $7.343 billion over the same period last year, indicating an increase of 10.14 per cent.

Of these, the import of crude oil was up by 27.58 per cent to $3.40 billion during the period under review against $2.665 billion over the corresponding period of the last year. This suggests a rising oil demand in the domestic market because the quantity of crude oil import also witnessed an increase of 30.52 per cent.

On the other side, import of petroleum products reached $4.688 billion in the months of July-March, up by 0.21 per cent from $4.678 billion over the corresponding period of the last year. This high import of petroleum products indicates that domestic refineries were not used fully for refining products to save foreign exchange.

The import of food items witnessed a robust growth of 60.55 per cent to $3.913 billion in July-March period this year against $2.437 billion over the corresponding period.

The food groups emerged second after oil import bill in the current fiscal year to bridge the shortfall recorded in the local production of farm products after the floods destroyed standing crops in August.

Statistics showed that import of palm oil increased by over 48.79 per cent and soyabean oil 719 per cent in the period under review. Massive depreciation of Pakistani rupee also edged up import bill of these non-staple food items.

According to statistics, the import bill of milk products was up by 91.88 per cent and dry fruits up by 7.75 pc owing to high consumption in winter. The import of pulses witnessed an increase of 72.55 per cent during the July-March 2010-11 to bridge the 50 per cent shortage of the pulses production in the country.

The import of tea also increased by 29.13 per cent and spices 57.66 per cent, respectively, both in quantity and value, suggesting high consumption of the products. And sugar import also recorded a growth of 388 per cent during the period under review to meet the rising demand for the whitener in the domestic market.