ISLAMABAD, Aug 6: The import value of Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) rose by 161 per cent in June 2004 and registered an overall increase of 48.7 per cent in the fiscal year 2003-04 against the 2002-03 financial year.

Official sources told Dawn on Friday that the massive growth in import of goods under the ATT was registered during the period under review following the withdrawal of around 14 items from the negative list during the fiscal year 2003-04 including refrigerators, air conditioners, television and parts thereof, yarn other cotton yarn; PVC materials; soap and black tea.

The sources said that it was estimated that the value of the ATT would reach the figure of Rs30bn during the year 2004- 05. Officials statistics showed that the value of the ATT stood at Rs20.916 billion during the year 2003-04 as against Rs14.061 billion in the previous year, an increase of 48.7 per cent.

On monthly basis, the value of the ATT stood at Rs2.99 billion during the month of June 2004 as against Rs1.142 billion during the same month last year. They said that the import value of the ATT had dropped to almost nil following the Sept 11, 2001, incident till Dec 2001. The Afghan importers after being given security assurances started taking interest in importing goods under the ATT.

The sources said that the import value of the ATT was likely to register a massive growth in the next few months owing to the keen interest of the coalition in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and removal of maximum items from the negative list.

Major items imported under the ATT during the year 2003-04 included sugar, diesel, engineering goods, plastic goods, blankets, bicycles and parts, black pepper, crockery, electric goods, green cardamom, green tea and medicines.

They said that the government was considering to include two items right-hand vehicles and betel nuts in the negative list. The total number of items in the negative list would remain at six.

The items which were placed in the negative list included cigars and cigarettes of tobacco or of tobacco substitutes; dyes and chemicals; cooking oil; tyres and tubes; soap; auto parts (all sorts) and telephone sets.