ISLAMABAD, Oct 6: Exports during the first quarter of the fiscal 2003-04 amounted to $2,967.63 million (Rs171.47 billion), up 14.65 per cent over the corresponding period of previous year.

But, according to the aggregate foreign trade figures issued by the Federal Bureau of Statistics here on Monday, the imports also spiralled to the level of $3,105.62 million (Rs179.44 billion). This denoted an increase of 11.84pc.

In spite of the surge in imports, the trade deficit fell by 26.75 per cent to stand at $137.99 million (Rs7.97 billion), as compared to the period July-September 2002.

Another positive aspect of the exports was its ratio to imports. The exports constituted 95.55 per cent of imports, thus raising the proportion of imports covered by these during the period July-September 2003, by 2.34pc over the corresponding of previous year.

Nevertheless, the exports failed to catch up with the annual target for three months, falling short of it by about 0.48pc. The government has fixed a target of $12.1 billion for 2003-04.

During September 2003, the exports stood at $1,038.78 million (Rs60.05 billion), denoting an increase of 0.01pc over the previous month. But when compared to the corresponding period of 2002, the increase was as much as 19.54pc.

The imports in September 2003 amounted to $1,070.75 million (Rs61.90 billion), registering an increase of 3.44pc, over August 2003 and of 21.63pc over the same period of previous year.

Further analysis brings out the interesting result that the trade deficit during the third month of 2003-04 fell by 998.40pc when compared to August 2003, while it shot up by 181.68pc in comparison with September 2002.

The month of August 2003 was unique with the exports ($1,038.67) surpassing the imports ($1,035.11 million) by over $3.5 million.