ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: Pakistan's trade deficit jumped by 23.43 per cent to $728.33 million during the first half of 2003-04 as compared to the same period of previous year.

In rupee terms, it amounted to Rs41.876 billion, denoting an increase of 20.32 per cent, according to the aggregate external trade figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics here on Wednesday.

The huge trade gap was attributable to a sharp 14.19 per cent rise in imports which stood at $6,609.12 million or Rs380.66 billion. In terms of Pakistani currency, it is 11.31 per cent more than the corresponding period of previous year. But then the exports, at $5,880.79 million, also went up by 13.15 in dollars and by 10.29 per cent in rupee (Rs338.79 billion).

The statistics show significant fall in the ratio of exports to imports. While during July-December 2002-03, exports had covered 89.80 per cent of imports, the period under review saw this ratio dropping to 88.98 per cent.

The impressive performance of exports notwithstanding, fell short of the half-yearly target ($6,100 million) by over $220 million. According to the statistics, the month of December 2003 was marked by a steep rise in both exports and imports. Exports ($1,044.90 million or Rs59.97 billion)) went up by 21.27 per cent (21.40 per cent in rupee) over November 2003 and by 21.05 per cent (18.93 per cent in rupee) as compared to the corresponding period of previous year.

The imports ($1,328.58 million or Rs76.25 billion) increased by even higher proportion 33.99 per cent in dollar and 34.13 per cent in rupee over November 2003 and by 28.66 per cent in dollar and 26.42 per cent in rupee over July-December 2002.