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import a variety of products. Imports have exceeded exports in almost every year
since 1950, and Pakistan had a deficit on its balance of trade each year from FY
1973 through FY 1992 (see table 5, Appendix). In FY 1991, exports were US$5.9
billion, compared with imports of US$8.4 billion, which resulted in a deficit of
US$2.5 billion. In FY 1992, exports rose to an estimated US$6.9 billion, but
imports reached an estimated US$9.3 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of
US$2.4 billion. Economists forecast a trade deficit of around US$2.5 billion for FY
1993. Pakistan's terms of trade (see Glossary), expressed in an index set at 100
in FY 1981, were 78.0 in FY 1991 and 82.7 in FY 1992.
Crude oil and refined products are significant imports (see table 6, Appendix).
Their value varies with internal demand and changes in the world oil price. In FY
1982, oil products accounted for around 30 percent of Pakistan's imports, falling
to an annual average of 15 percent in FY 1987 to FY 1990, rising to over 21
percent in FY 1991, but dropping back to 15 percent in FY 1992. Other important
categories of imports in FY 1992 included nonelectrical machinery (24 percent),
chemicals (10 percent), transportation equipment (9 percent), and edible oils (4
percent).
Sources for imports and markets for exports are widely scattered, and they
fluctuate from year to year. In the early 1990s, the United States and Japan were
Pakistan's most important trading partners. In FY 1993, the United States
accounted for 13.7 percent of Pakistan's exports and 11.2 percent of its imports.
Japan accounted for 6.6 percent of exports and 14.2 percent of imports.
Germany, Britain, and Saudi Arabia are also important trading partners. Hong
Kong is an important export market and China a significant supplier of imports.
Trade with the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Malaysia is small but not
unimportant. Trade with India is negligible.
The ECO was formed in 1985 with Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey as its only
members, but Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
and Uzbekistan joined in 1992. Some politicians in the member nations see the
ECO as a potential Muslim common market, but political rivalries, especially
between Iran and Turkey, limit its effectiveness. In 1994 most of the concrete
measures being taken by the ECO concerned the improvement of transportation
and communications among the member nations, including the construction of a
highway from Turkey to Pakistan through Iran.
During the first four decades after independence, controls on imports were used
to ensure priority use of foreign exchange and to assist industrialization. In the
1980s, the government maintained lists of permissible imports and also used
quantitative restrictions and regulations on foreign exchange to control imports.
The most extensive list covers consumer goods as well as raw materials and
capital goods that can be imported by commercial and industrial users. A second
list, mostly of raw materials, can only be imported by industrial users. A third list
covers commodities only the public sector can import.