ISLAMABAD: The import bill of oil and eatables witnessed a decline by over 19.6 percent in the first month of the current fiscal year.
According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data, import bill of these two products declined to $1.435 billion in July 2013 this year from $1.785 billion during the same period last year.
Pakistan’s total import bill reached $3.939 billion during the month under review as against $3.661 billion, showing an increase of over 4.16 percent.
This shows that less than half of the total import bill was consumed by import of these two commodities in July.
The import bill of food products witnessed a substantial decline of 24.15pc at $258.369m in July 2013 as against $433.799m in the corresponding month last year.
The decline in food items import was mainly driven by import of palm oil, soyabean oil and spices. Statistics showed that oil import bill fell to $1.287 billion in July this year as against $1.351 billion last year, indicating a decline of 4.68 percent. Of these, import of crude oil was up by 29.49 percent to $470.384 million during July as against $363.271 million last year.
