ISLAMABAD, Jan 19: The country’s oil import bill soared to $4.238 billion during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year, up by 13.13 per cent from $3.746 billion the same period last year.

Official figures, compiled by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), showed that even the quantity of oil recorded a double digit growth during the period under review on the back of greater local demand.

This growth in oil import is expected to escalate further in the second half of the current fiscal in the wake of highest ever increases in oil prices in the international market which crossed $100 per barrel mark.

Last year, oil import bill had crossed $7 billion and this year the finance ministry anticipates that the oil bill would easily reach $11bn by the end of June 2008, which would further deteriorate balance of payments account.

An increase of 22.18 per cent was recorded in the import bill of products manufactured from petroleum as it stood at $2.343 billion during the half of the current fiscal against $1.917 billion over the same period last year.

However, crude petroleum oil import was up by 3.64 per cent to $1.895 billion during July-December period of the current fiscal against $1.828 billion over the same period last year.

The statistics showed that machinery is the second group after petroleum, whose import stood at $3.249 billion in July-December this year, up by 1.54 per cent from $3.200 billion last year.

This growth in the import bill of machinery group was the outcome of marginal increase in import of agriculture machinery which increased by 13.73pc, construction machinery 11.37pc, electrical machinery 9.45pc and telecom sector 6.76 per cent during the first half of the current fiscal year over last year.

However, textile machinery import declined by 24.65 per cent, power generating machinery 0.55 per cent, office machinery 13.50 per cent during the period under review over last year.

The steady decline in import of textile machinery showed that textile manufacturers have stopped replacement of old machineries to improve the quality of products to make them competitive with those manufactured in other countries.

The import bill of agriculture and other chemicals up by 30.54 per cent to $2.725 billion during the first half year of the current fiscal year against $2.087 billion over the same period last year.

This growth in the import bill is owing to 127.47 per cent increase in the import bill of fertilizer, followed by 34.80 per cent in medicinal products and plastic material 8.77 per cent during the period under review.

The import of food products reached $1.594 billion in the first half of the year as against $1.534 billion over the same period last year, indicating a growth of 3.92 per cent. This growth was mainly due to import of wheat and flour during the period under review to meet the local shortage.

The import bill of both CKD/SKD and CBU vehicles reached $1.285 billion during the period under review as against $1.015 billion over last year, an increase of 26.56 per cent.

The total import bill reached $16.953 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year as against $14.894 billion last year, showing an increase of 13.82 per cent.