ISLAMABAD, March 5: Pakistan's foreign trade deficit shot up by 44.99 per cent to $1,216.31 million (Rs69.87 billion) during the first eight months of the fiscal year 2003-04 , as compared to the corresponding period of previous year, according to the aggregate external trade figures issued by the Federal Bureau of Statistics here on Friday.

That the trade gap has thus raced well beyond the one billion dollar figure for the first time during the current year is attributable to galloping imports characterized by the dramatically reduced tariffs.

The imports during the period July-February 2003-04 amounted to $9,093.84 million (Rs523.24 billion), up 17.20 per cent from the same period of previous year.

These raised the trade balance against Pakistan by over $242 million in a single month. The exports in July-February went up 13.83 per cent to stand at $7,877.53 million (Rs453.37 billion). But as the trade gap constituted 15.44 per cent of the total exports, their ratio to imports deteriorated significantly during the eight-month period under review.

Whereas the same period of previous year had seen 89.19pc of imports being covered by the exports in the period under review, this ratio has dropped to 86.62pc. As regards the target, the exports were still slightly behind the target of $12.1 billion for 2003-04 by nearly $30 million.

The FBS statement shows a significant slowdown in exports for February 2004. These amounted to $902.51 million (Rs51.77 billion), registering a substantial decline of 17.50pc from the preceding month (January 2004). The imports during that period amounted to $1,143.87 million (Rs65.61 billion), down 15pc from the previous month.

But as compared to February 2003, the exports were up by 16.24 per cent and the imports by 24.52 per cent. These caused the trade imbalance to rise by 69.67 per cent ($241.35 million) in February 2004.