23/11/2011 (DAWN.com) - Pakistan import bill for oil recorded a growth of over 53.9 per cent in the first four months this year over the last year, suggest Federal Bureau of Statistics data issued on Monday.

In absolute terms, the import bill of oil reached $5.013 billion in July-Oct period this year as against $3.257 billion over the corresponding period last year, owing to rising oil prices in international market.

The growth in import of oil is witnessed in both value and quantity, which also shows that the consumption of oil in domestic market also rose because of furnace oil-based energy production.

Of the total oil imports bill, the import of crude oil was up by 26.39 per cent to $1.696 billion in the first fourth months this year as against $1.341 billion previous year. This suggests a rising oil demand in the domestic market. The surge in oil prices was also driven by oil consumption in the power sector.

The import of petroleum products reached $3.495 billion in July-Oct period this year, a surge by 73.16 per cent from $1.915 billion last year. This clearly shows that refining capacity has not fully been utilised in the country.

Contrary to this, the edible oil import in the food basket also surged massively during the period under review.

The higher import bill of palm oil is because of ease in the international price, higher domestic demand and cut in import duty.

These factors encouraged import of palm oil, which recorded a growth of 40.96 per cent in the first four months this year over the last year. A 74.55 per cent growth was recorded in import of soyabean oil during the period under review.

The import of milk products witnessed an increase of 22.50 per cent in July-Oct period this year over last year followed by 3.98 per cent in pulses and 17.18 per cent in all other food items.

Telecom import also surged by 52.46 per cent in the first four months this year over the last year contrary to the fact that imports of all other machinery witnessed a negative growth during the period under review.

Most of the increase in overall telecom imports has been contributed by mobile phone imports, which grew by 60 per cent and its parts by 44.29 per cent during the period under review.