ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s food, machinery and oil import bill rose nearly 32 per cent to $26.42 billion in July-May despite a decline in global prices of crude oil and grains.

The share of these products in Pakistan’s total import bill in July-May was 54.4pc, which is bringing the country’s balance of payments under pressure. The rising import bill of these products has not only made the country dependent on imports but also threatened its food sovereignty.

The trade deficit has been widening in tandem with the rising import bill since the start of the current fiscal year. The trade deficit has touched the record high of $30bn.

Official figures compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) show that imports under the petroleum group increased 32.6pc year-on-year to $9.89bn in July-May. Imports of petroleum products went up 31.21pc to $6.2bn in the 11-month period. However, 11.7pc growth was recorded in the import bill of petroleum crude, which amounted to $2.33bn.

The import bill of liquefied natural gas surged 134pc while that of liquefied petroleum gas recorded growth of 35pc during the period under review.

The second biggest component in the import bill was of machinery imports, which went up 39.97pc to $10.88bn. The increase was mainly driven by power-generating machinery whose imports grew 70.9pc year-on-year to $2.839bn. It was followed by the imports of electrical machinery and appliances that rose 26.83pc to $2.11bn.

The import bill of office machinery went up 61.6pc, textile machinery 23pc, construction machinery 70pc and agriculture machinery 48pc. However, the import bill of the telecom sector witnessed a decline of 0.29pc to $1.25bn.

Imports of mobile phones witnessed the negative growth of 7.29pc but those of other apparatus went up around 8pc during the period under review.

The third biggest component in the import bill was food commodities. Their imports rose 16pc year-on-year to $5.65bn in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year.

This increase is attributed to massive imports of palm oil worth $1.74bn followed by ‘other’ food items amounting to $1.86bn, pulses $702 million and tea $491m. Imports of dry fruits and milk products also grew during the period under review.

Economic managers are trying to control the impact of an increase in capital goods’ imports under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2017