July 7, 2002	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 25,1423

LAHORE, July 6: Commerce minister Abdul Razak Dawood on Saturday said the country’s trade deficit during the fiscal 2001- 02 stood at $1.2 billion as compared to the previous year’s trade deficit of $1.5 billion.

Speaking at a press conference, the minister said the exports during the last financial year were $9.124 billion, about nine per cent less than the original target of $10.1 billion for the year. He said total imports were recorded at $10.3 billion.

After the 9/11, he said, the country’s exports had suffered considerably and it was feared at one point that they might remain at $8 billion. However, he said, the exporters and the others concerned worked hard to increase exports to the tune of $9.124 billion.

Answering a question, he said the last year’s exports were only 0.8 per cent less than $9.2 billion exports recorded during 2000-01.

He claimed that exports of Korea and Indonesia each had fallen by 15 per cent while those of Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan each by 10 per cent. He said the sub-continent maintained its exports position during the last financial year.

Even though there was decline in exports, Mr Dawood said, the volume of exports had gone up by around 20 per cent and the value per unit price decreased by 12 per cent to 20 per cent. “We reduced our prices but maintained market share during the last year,” he said. “We would have achieved our export target, if there was no September 11,” he added. He said the export target for the ongoing year had not been finalized.

Mr Dawood said Pakistan was pursuing a strategy of greater value addition in the textile sector. He claimed that value addition in garments, knitwear and made-ups had risen from 37 per cent in 1997 to 57 per cent last year.

He said Pakistan was also working to diversify exports. Without giving the exact figures, he said, exports of fans, auto parts, furniture, wheat, petroleum products and pharmaceuticals had gone up. He, however, said that there was relatively decline in fisheries as the people concerned did not show the required progress.

MOROCCO VISIT: Mr Dawood said that he has proposed a bilateral trade agreement with Morocco during his recent visit there to acquire greater market access for the Pakistani products.

Terming it a follow-up to Morocco’s Prime Minister’s visit to Pakistan in April last year, he said he was accompanied by engineering, pharmaceutical, leather and textile groups for assessing the Morocco market potential. He said they had found that there was no market for fans but a lot of opportunities were available for the pharmaceutical, textile and leather sectors.

He said the geographic location of Morocco could help the Pakistani exporters to easily reach the American market because it had a free trade agreement with the US.