ISLAMABAD, July 20: The government has set a target of $10.5 billion exports and $12.5 billion of imports for the fiscal year 2002-03, thus projecting a trade deficit of $2bn, official sources told Dawn.
Commerce minister Abdul Razak Dawood would make an announcement to this effect in the trade policy on July 22. The federal cabinet, which meets on Monday morning, would approve the trade policy 2002-03. Later the minister would announce the policy live on radio and television at 2000 hours and explain salient features at a news conference the following day.
The announcement was earlier scheduled for July 17 but the cabinet meeting was postponed due to engagements of President Pervez Musharraf in preparation and announcement of constitutional packages.
Official sources said that policy takes particularly into account the challenges of the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime that eliminates all kinds of trade barriers across the world.
The commerce ministry has been engaged in consultations with exporters and importers over the last fortnight for preparing a trade policy that encouraged exports through simplification of procedures, focus on quality control and value addition of core export items besides concentrating on exports of non-traditional items.
The country could export $9.12bn worth of goods during fiscal 2001-02 against a target of $10.1bn. But shortfall in meeting the target was mainly attributed by the government to post-September 11 situation that resulted in large-scale cancellation of orders, decline in unit value and imposition of war risk insurance.
The contribution of manufactured and semi-manufactured goods in exports rose to 91.24 per cent in 2001-02, compared to 89.68 per cent during the preceding year as foreign exchange earnings from manufactured goods exports stood at $8.32bn out of the total exports figure of $9.12bn.
This was accounted for by textile manufactures exports ($5.80bn) to the extent of 69.71 per cent. Although 0.69 per cent more than during the preceding year, the figures reinforce the fact that the textile industry — the mainstay of our exports — has yet to outgrow its stagnation.
Cotton cloth retained its position as the No. 1 export item among textile manufactures. Its exports totalled $1.96bn, 9.70 per cent more than in 2000-01. But the quantity of cotton cloth exported during the year under review was even higher — 12.76 per cent.
The next biggest export item was cotton yarn. Quantitatively, its export (5,44,217 tons) was lower by 0.17 per cent, but in terms of dollars, there was a loss of 12.22 per cent. The foreign exchange it fetched amounted to $942.35 million.
Officials suggest that exports quota, already enhanced by the European Union and United States, and recent agreement with Turkey and the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka would contribute substantially towards boosting exports during the current year.
Imports during the year amounted to $ 10.335bn, against $ 10.728bn in 2000-01, showing a decrease of 3.67 per cent and short of $11.2bn import target.