Islamabad, Pakistan (BBN)- The country’s overall exports fell by more than 7.0 per cent in July, the first of the current fiscal year (FY) 2014-15, due to the closure of the ports for nearly 11 days.
The overall export proceeds came down to US$ 1.93 billion in July 2014, from $2.095bn in the same period of the last fiscal, according to data, released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Saturday.
The export proceeds have been witnessing a downward spiral since April 2014 despite having a duty- free access to the 28-member European Union.
One of the reasons for decline in export proceeds was the closure of the ports for nearly 11 days, according to Commerce Minister of Pakistan Khurram Dastgir Khan. “The commerce ministry is working on a comprehensive plan to increase the exports to $50bn by 2018 and the prime minister will soon be given a presentation on the plan.”
The total export proceeds in the FY 14 grew by 2.75 per cent to $25.132 billion compared to $24.460 billion in FY 13.
The country’s overall imports also witnessed a negative growth of 11.8 per cent to $3.364 billion in July 2014 from $3.814 billion over the same month last fiscal year.
The monthly imports witnessed a negative growth of 22.45 per cent over the preceding month of June 2014.
As a result of this slowdown on external side, the trade deficit also decelerated by 16.58 per cent to $1.434 billion in July 2014 from $1.719 billion over the corresponding month of last year.
BBN/SSR/AD-17Aug14-1:45 pm (BST)
