ISLAMABAD, Aug 27 : Pakistan’s trade deficit with Saudi Arabia has expanded significantly in the last four years from $708.169 million in the year 1999-2000 to $825.293 million in 2002-03.

Officials told Dawn on Wednesday the consistent rise in the trade deficit with the kingdom was due to ever increasing quantum of import of petroleum and petroleum products from Saudi Arabia.

They said the value of import bill of petroleum products was $777 million during 1999-2000, which increased to $1.079 billion in 2002-03.

Official statistics made available to Dawn on Tuesday showed that Pakistan’s trade deficit with the kingdom stood at $708.169 million in 1999-2000; $986.233 million in 2000-01; $870.294 million in 2001-02 and $825.293 million in 2002-03.

Pakistan exported $476.820 million worth of goods to Saudi Arabia in 2002-03 against $330.418 million it exported the previous year, showing an increase of 44.3 per cent.

Pakistan’s major exports to Saudi Arab include textile products, rice, hosiery and fruits.

Product wise analysis showed that Pakistan exported cotton fabrics (woven) worth $24.04 million in 2002-03 against $16.592 million the previous year, an increase of 44 per cent; synthetic fabrics including silk, woollen and flex worth $39.273 million against $18.749 million the previous year, showing an increase of 109 per cent; $136.131 million worth made up articles of textile material against $91.661 million in the previous year, an increase of 48.5 per cent.

However, Islamabad’s exports of apparel and clothing of textile material declined by 71.6 per cent to Saudi Arabia during the period under review to $22.670 million against $79.934 million the previous year.

The export of hosiery rose by 2305 per cent to Saudi Arabia during the year 2002-03 to $109.851 million against $4.567 million worth of export of hosiery in the previous year; footwear export increased by 93 per cent to $9.189 million during the year under review against 4.750 million the previous year.

Pakistan exported $19.086 million worth tarpaulins, sails and tents to Saudi Arabia in 2002-03 against $17.049 million the previous year; $4.759 million worth spices against $4.599 million the previous year, an increase of 3.47 per cent; $6.914 million worth fruits and vegetables against $6.764 million of last year, an increase of only 2.2 per cent; $33.915 million worth rice (all kinds) against $26.889 million of last year, an increase of 26 per cent; $4.3 million worth fish and fish preparations against $3.961 million of last year, showing an increase of 9 per cent and $3.855 million worth meat and meat preparations against $0.660 million the previous year, showing an increase of 484 per cent.

Saudi Arabia’s major exports to Pakistan included $1.079 billion petroleum and petroleum products in 2002-03 against $1.04 billion the previous year, an increase of 3.7 per cent; $94.945 million worth of chemical elements against $48.187 million the previous year, an increase of 97 per cent; $79.696 million worth of chemical materials and products against $68.231 million the previous year, an increase of 16.8 per cent and $4.509 million worth of manufactures of non-ferrous metals against $2.123 million the previous year, an increase of 112 per cent.