ISLAMABAD: The import bill of food, machinery and oil edged up 29 per cent year-on-year to $28.79 billion in 2016-17, causing a higher-than-expected trade deficit of $32.6bn.

The overall import bill ballooned to an all-time high of $53bn in the last fiscal year. The share of these products in the overall import bill increased to 55pc from 50pc a year ago.

Analysts believe the import of these products has not only made Pakistan overly dependent on foreign goods, but also threatened its food sovereignty.

Official figures compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) show imports under the petroleum group increased 30.24pc year-on-year to $10.9bn in July-June.

Its breakdown showed imports of petroleum products went up 28pc to $6.82bn in the 12-month period. However, 11pc growth was recorded in the import bill of petroleum crude, which amounted to $2.54bn.

The import bill of liquefied natural gas surged 132pc to $1.3bn while that of liquefied petroleum gas recorded a growth of 35pc to $215.28 million during the period under review.

The second biggest component in the import bill was of machinery, which went up 37.27pc to $11.76bn. The increase was mainly driven by power-generating machinery whose imports grew 64.64pc year-on-year to $3.04bn. It was followed by the imports of electrical machinery and appliances that rose 29.4pc to $2.32bn.

The import of other machinery went up 41.4pc to $3.35bn. However, no breakdown of other machinery was disclosed by PBS data.

The import bill of office machinery went up 59pc, textile machinery 21pc, construction machinery 55pc and agriculture machinery 36pc. The import values for each product were around $500m in 2016-17.

The import bill of the telecom sector witnessed a decline of 0.38pc to $1.35bn. Imports of mobile phones witnessed a negative growth of 5.78pc, but those of other apparatus went up 6.3pc during the period under review.

The third biggest component in the import bill was food commodities. Their imports rose 14pc to $6.13bn in the 12-month period.

This increase can be attributed to massive imports of palm oil, which went up 12pc to $1.9bn followed by the rise of 13.76pc in the imports of ‘other’ food items amounting to $2.05bn. The import of pulses edged up 60pc to $952.25m. Imports of dry fruits and milk products also grew during the period under review.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2017