September 6, 2002	Friday	Jamadi-us-Saani27,1423

ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: Pakistan suffered a trade deficit of $265.21 million during the first two months of fiscal 2002-03, down 29.38 per cent from the same period of previous year.

According to the aggregate foreign trade data released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics here on Thursday, the exports during the period under review totalled $1,171.35 million. This is 17.02 per cent more than July and August in 2001.

Likewise, the imports at $1,900.85 million surged by 9.90 per cent. Thus the fraction of imports paid for by exports improved to 90.14 per cent during the period under review. In the first two months of previous financial year, 84.67 per cent of imports were covered by exports.

Further analysis of the figures showed that for the first time in a long period, the exports are not only abreast of the target of $10.1 billion for the current financial year but ahead of it.

During August 2002, the exports amounted to $896.90 million — 9.83 per cent more than during the previous month. As compared to the corresponding month of previous year, the exports registered an increase of 14.92 per cent.

As a result, the trade deficit for the single month of August stood at $110.55 million, which is 51.29 per cent less than for the same period of previous year.