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ISLAMABAD- As the floods last year had destroyed all major crops, the country has imported food items worth $6.7 billion to bridge the local shortage in the country for eight months of the current financial year.
The country, which was a net exporter of food commodities in the past, has increased its import bill of edibles by 3.98 percent in a year. The fresh data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed that the country’s food import bill has gone from $6.43 billion in July to February 2021-22 to $6.69 billion during the same period in the current year 2022-23. The food import bill has increased mainly due to imports of sugar, wheat, palm oil and pulses to bridge the shortfall in domestic production of agricultural products. In the food group, PBS data showed that the government has spent $857.9 million on wheat imports in the July to February period of the current fiscal year, which is 16.36 percent higher than the corresponding period last year.
The government has imported palm oil worth $2.66 billion compared to $2.44 billion in the same period last year, showing an increase of 9.87 percent. Meanwhile, the government has imported various pulses worth $660.8 million in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, showing an increase of 57.85 percent. However, sugar imports have decreased, as the government has allowed the export of the commodity. According to PBS data, the country’s petroleum group imports have registered a negative growth of 8.28 percent during July-February 2022-23 and remained at $11.876 billion compared to $12.948 billion during the same period last fiscal. The breakdown showed that petroleum products showed 14.47 percent negative growth in the first eight months of the current fiscal year and remained at $5.352 billion compared to $6.257 billion in the same period last fiscal year. Oil imports showed a growth of 10.3290 percent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year 2022-23 and remained at $3.483 billion compared to $3.157 billion in the same period last year.
The data showed that imports of machinery groups had a negative growth of 46.42 percent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year and remained at $4.155 billion compared to $7.755 billion in the same period last fiscal year. Power generating machinery registered 68.03 percent negative growth in the first eight months of the current fiscal year and remained at $375.825 million compared to $1.175 billion in the same period last fiscal year. The transport group’s imports showed a negative growth of 51.02 percent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, remaining at $1.442 billion compared to $2.944 billion in the same period last fiscal year. According to PBS, the country’s total imports decreased by 23.56 percent during the period under review by going down from $52.452 billion last year to $40.039 billion in the current year.
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