ISLAMABAD, April 27: The import bill of petroleum products rose by 64.46 per cent to $4.615 billion during the July-March period of the current fiscal year as against $2.806 billion during the same period last year.

Official sources indicated that the import bill of petroleum products would further increase in the next three months as the price of oil in the international market is hovering over $72 per barrel.

Import of petroleum products recorded a growth of 53.44 per cent and petroleum crude 72.64 per cent during the nine months of the current fiscal over the same period of last year.

However, in quantity term, the import of petroleum products declined by 5.81 per cent and petroleum crude by 2.25 per cent during the period under review.

The second biggest component of the import bill was the import of machinery group, which increased by 33.48 per cent to $5.328 billion during the July-March period this year as against $3.992 billion over the same period of last year.

Among the machinery group, the import of textile machinery declined by 6.54 per cent, while the import of motor vehicles registered a robust growth of 41.01 per cent in value during the period under review over the last year.

The import bill of agriculture implements rose by 109.15 per cent, electrical machinery and apparatus 44.24 per cent, power generating machinery by 44.79 per cent, construction and mining machinery by 28.96 per cent, office machines by 2.03 per cent during the first nine months this year over the same months of the last year.

The third biggest component of the import bill was the import of consumer goods, which rose by 35.94 per cent to $1.346 billion as against $0.990 billion.

In the consumer goods —import of wheat rose by 34.90 per cent, tea by 3.26pc, sugar 2394.38pc, dry fruits 35.22pc, milk products 60.94 per cent and pulses by 51.27 per cent.

The import bill of metal group increased by 61.55 per cent and agriculture and other chemicals by 22.82 per cent during the same period this year over the last year. In this group, the import of fertilizer rose by 77.42 per cent.

The textile group import rose by 68.16 per cent to $402.541 million during this period as against $239.383 million last year. Of these import bill of synthetic increased by 72.64 per cent, synthetic and artificial silk yarn 77.61 per cent and worn clothing by 20.25 per cent.