ISLAMABAD, April 10: Pakistan’s trade deficit widened to highest ever $9.985 billion in the first nine months (July-March) of this fiscal, up by 15.1 per cent from $8.674 billion over the same period of last year, statistics division said on Tuesday.

As growth in exports dipped and imports grew at much higher rate during the period under review, it was anticipated that the trade deficit would be hovering between $12-13bn by June 30, 2007.

The government had projected a trade deficit of $9.4bn for FY07 as against $12.13bn trade deficit recorded during 2005-06.

Export of goods up marginally at a rate of 4.9pc to fetch a total $12.435 billion during the July-March period as against $12.014bn the same period last year. The current fiscal export target has been fixed at $18.6bn.

This means that in the next three months (April-June) export proceeds should be in the range of $6.165 billion, which appears unachievable following slow export growth since the start of the current fiscal year.

As there was no surplus in non-traditional products, the exports also did not seem to grow at much faster pace in coming months.

Imports climbed by 8.4pc to $22.420bn during the July-March 2006-07 as against $20.688 billion over the corresponding period last year. This high import growth resulted in pushing the trade deficit further higher. The import bill has been estimated at $28 billion for the current year.

As the imports were steadily growing at an average rate of nine per cent during the period, it was expected that the import bill would easily reach the $30bn mark by the fiscal end.

A senior official in the commerce ministry told Dawn that exports would pick up growth and the country would be close to the target if not achieved it,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.

He said highest inflation, capital cost and energy prices during the last few years rendered Pakistani products less attractive for buyers in international market. This can be one of the reasons for dwindling exports during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, he added.

Answering a question he said that it was the government responsibility to provide level-playing field in the shape of preferential market access, reduce cost of doing business by allowing special packages for those sectors facing competitions from other countries.

The official said that Pakistani exports reached at saturation point as there was no surplus available for export as no effort had been made during the last years to broaden the industrial base or expand the production capacity of the existing industries.