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sibgakhan · #9 Monday, January 16, 2006

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Pakistan to achieve export target of $17b: Humayun

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will achieve its exports target of $17 billion for the current financial year, said Humayun Akhtar Khan, commerce minister.

Talking to journalist after a press conference here on Monday, the minister highlighted the trade performance during July-Nov 2006, in which the country’s exports registered 23 percent growth.

“The trade deficit position is not so alarming,” the minister replied. The exports, which were previously stagnating between $8 – $9 billion mark, crossed the US$12 billion for the first time in the year 2004-05, he added.

Since then, we are looking forward to increase our exports to new record, the minister said. In this regard, we has set a new target of $17 billion for the year 2005-06. The export growth that we have achieved so far during the first five months (July-November 2005) indicated that we would be able to achieve the target.

He said the exports, which were previously stagnating between $ 8 and $ 9 billion, had crossed the $ 10 billion mark for the first time in the year 2003.

Mr Khan said during the first five months of 2005-2006, exports increased significantly by around 23 percent to $6.6 billion from $5.4 billion during same period of last year, thereby registering an increase of $1.2 billion in absolute terms. Export growth was driven mainly by substantial rise in volume, he added.

During July-November 2005-06 exports from textile sector increased to $4.03 billion from $3.16 billion during the same period of last year, showing a remarkable increase of 28 percent, he added.

Export of cotton cloth increased by 33 percent, readymade garments by 72 percent, cotton yarn by 43 percent, and towels by 12 percent in value during the period under review, the minister said.

The export of primary commodities during July-November 2005-06 increased to $553 million from $437 million registering an increase of 27 percent.

All the major primary commodities increased in the range of 12 percent to 45 percent except raw cotton and fruits, which declined by 24 percent and 7 percent respectively during the period, he said.

He said imports during July-Nov 2005-06 increased to $11.2 billion from $7.2 billion of the corresponding period last year, an increase of 54 percent.

Major contributors to increase in the import bill, he said, were machinery group ($1.08 billion), petroleum ($1.04 billion), metal group ($322 million) and chemicals ($170 million) in absolute term, he added.

Import of non-food, non-oil items increased by 52 percent during July-Nov 2005, Mr Khan observed.

He said the increase had been in those sectors, which give impetus to the growth in exports. Increase in imports was an indicator of expansion in the economy and it would ultimately help in achieving a sustainable GDP growth rate, he remarked. Replying to a question, he said that balance of payments position of Pakistan was very healthy. staff report

dailytimes.com.pk