Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) President Anis A Sheikh has expressed his concern on the depreciation of Pak rupee and rising trade deficit describing it detrimental to the country's economy. The current increase in trade deficit will drag economy towards major downturn, which is already in doldrums due to various core issues, he added.
Sheikh said the country could not afford increase in trade deficit for long term with the current level of foreign exchange reserves.
According to him, trade deficit during July-December 2011 period swelled to $11.48 billion, up by 38.48 percent against $8.287 billion for the same period of last year.
He said trade deficit was increasing due to higher import bill as import bill for oil and eatables ballooned by 31 percent in the first six months of 2011-12.
He said export oriented industries had failed to maintain export target due to severe energy shortage and exports were on decline which would also put the country in a balance of payments crisis. The higher trade deficit leads to outflow of capital resources from the country and increases economic dependency.