15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: Pakistan's trade deficit rose by more than 233pc during the first-half (July-December) of the fiscal year 2004-05, over the same period last year.

Official figures released here on Friday by the Federal Bureau of Statistics has, however, created a new controversy about the authenticity in compilation of the trade figures because the import figures reported by the FBS and the CBR are at variance.

The CBR has also reported its revenue collection on the basis of over $9.698bn imports. As such, if the import figures of the FBS at $8.904bn are accepted, the authenticity of CBR's revenue figures becomes questionable.

The FBS data showed that trade deficit stood at $2.409bn during the July-December period, as against $0.723bn during the same period last year. According to the CBR statistics available with Dawn, the total value of imports during the first-half of 2004-05 soared by 47.1pc to $9.698bn, as against $6.591bn during the same period last year.

Further analysis showed that trade deficit soared by 343pc during the first-half and stood at $3.203bn, as against $0.723bn during the same period last year. On monthly basis, the deficit increased by 96.76pc to $547m in December 2004 as compared to $278m in the same month last year.

The CBR figures showed the trade deficit rose by 150.35pc to $696m in December 2004, as against $278m during the same month last year. The difference in the value of imports indicates that either the CBR has overestimated the figures or the FBS has undervalued them in order to reduce the value of trade deficit.

The value of total raw materials imported during July-Nov of the fiscal year 2004-05 was 56pc of the total imports. Of these, 49pc raw materials were imported for consumer goods and sevenpc for industrial goods. Nine per cent of the total imports constituted finished products and 35pc machinery.

Exports of goods registered a growth of 10.44pc during the July-Dec period of the current fiscal year as compared to $5.881bn during the same period last year. On monthly basis, the exports increased by 7.17pc to $1.120bn in December 2004, as against $1.045bn in the same month last year.

The total imports value stood at $8.904bn during the first-half of current fiscal against $6.604bn during the same period last year, registering an increase of 34.82pc.