ISLAMABAD, May 5: Pakistan's exports crossed the $10,000 million mark ($10,000.90 million) during the first ten months of the fiscal year 2003-04, up 13.05 per cent from the same period of previous year.

In local currency, according to the external trade figures, in aggregate, issued by the Federal Bureau of Statistics here on Wednesday, the exports stood at Rs575.37 billion, registering a growth rate of 10.93 per cent.

On the negative side, however, the trade gap soared by 60.72pc to $2,011m in dollars and by 58.02pc in rupee (Rs115.57bn). This also denotes a sharp rise in the ratio of trade deficit to exports: 20.11pc as against 14.15pc of the corresponding period of 2003-04.

The government has fixed $12,100 million as the export target for the current financial year. The period under review, however, leaves the actual export performance slightly short of the target - $82.43 million or 0.82pc.

What marks the current financial year out as a period of galloping trade imbalance is the steep rise in imports. The imports stood at $12,012.42 million, representing an increase of 18.96pc over the corresponding period. In local currency, the imports (Rs690.94 billion) registered an increase of 16.75pc.

The FBS figures also show a steep fall (4.35pc) in the ratio of exports to imports. During the period under review, the exports covered 83.25pc of the imports, as against 87.60pc for the same period of previous year.