According to provisional trade figures released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Tuesday, Pakistan imports during this period declined by 7.86 per cent from $24.145 billion in 2014-15 to $22.246 billion in 2015-16. This shows trade deficit of $11.924 billion during the first six months of the current fiscal year.
The provisional figures further show that the country's exports declined by 16.8 per cent to $1.788 billion in December 2015 - from $2.149 billion in December 2014-15. According to the PBS, the country imported goods worth $3.843 billion during December 2015 against $3.834 billion in the same month a year ago, reflecting an increase of 0.23 per cent. As a result trade deficit was recorded at $2.055 billion.
However, Pakistan's exports have showed a marginal growth of 7.58 per cent during December 2015 to $1.788 billion against $1.662 billion in November 2015; imports showed a negative growth of 0.59 per cent in December 2015 - $3.843 billion from $3.866 billion in November 2014. Sources in Commerce Ministry told this scribe that Commerce Minister inquires about the reasons for the decline in exports from his Ministry's officials every month. The officials repeat the old reasons notably international sluggishness which the Minister reportedly is skeptical about. Engineer Khurram Dastgir recently met with a panel of experts in Islamabad and sought their opinion on the declining trend in exports and future strategy. The Commerce Ministry has not set any target for exports for the current fiscal year as the Trade Policy 2015-18 has not been approved by the Prime Minister.