ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's woes are on the rise at the economic front as the major export-oriented textile sector registered negative growth of 3.1 percent during July-March 2007-08 over the same period last year.    The updated provisional figures compiled by Federal Bureau of Statistics reflected that the majority of cotton-related items had gone down with negative growth. Apart from the negative growth, the textile sector is still contributing a major chunk of the country total exports as the exports from this sector stood at $ 7.76 billion during the previous nine months of this year. However, the textile group exports were recorded at $ 8 billion during the same period of last fiscal. The data showed the textile group is still a prominent sector with approximately 65 percent share in the overall exports of $ 13.47 billion during the period under study. The data revealed that raw cotton and few other small cotton base items reflected some positive growth. In other, food group exports went up by 14.2 percent during the said period of the current year. Rice exports annual target of over a billion dollar was achieved only 9 months that helped improve the performance of overall food group in the exports.        The exports during July-March, 2007-2008 totaled $ 13.5 billion as against $ 12.4 billion during the corresponding period of last year showing an increase of 8.87 %. The exports from Pakistan increased by 17.29% in March, this year accumulating to $ 1.8 billion when compared with March 2007 $ 1.5 billion. Main commodities of exports during March, 2008 were Cotton cloth (Rs.10,645 million), Bedwear (Rs.9,935 million), Knitwear (Rs.8,622 million), Readymade garments (Rs.8,273 million), Cotton yarn (Rs.6,655 million), Rice basmati (Rs.5,246 million), Rice others (Rs.4,541 million), Petroleum products (excl Top Naphta) ( Rs.4,109 million), Art, silk & synthetic textile (Rs.4,036 million) and Leather garments (Rs.3,429 million).