The trade deficit witnessed a decline of 32.6 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
The trade deficit from July-December (2022-23) was recorded at $17.1 billion against the deficit of $25.4 billion in July-December (2021-22), a decline of 32.6 percent. The exports during the period were recorded at $14.2 billion against $15.1 billion last year, showing a decline of 5.8 percent.
On the other hand, the imports witnessed a sharp decline of 22.6 percent falling from $40.6 billion last year to $31.4 billion during the current fiscal year. On a year-on-year basis, the exports from the country witnessed a decline of 16.6 percent and were recorded at $2.3 billion in December 2022 against the exports of $2.8 billion in December 2021.
The imports also decreased to $5.2 billion in December 2022 from $7.6 billion in December 2021, showing a negative growth of 31.9 percent. On a month-on-month basis, the exports during December 2022 declined by 3.6 percent when compared to the exports of $2.4 billion in November 2022.
The imports into the country also declined by 0.4 percent in December 2022 when compared to the imports of $5.2 billion in November 2022, according to the data. Meanwhile, the services’ exports went up by 4 percent during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year as compared to the same period of last year.
The service trade during the period under review was recorded at $2.2 billion against the exports of $2.2 billion last year. Likewise, the import of services witnessed an 11.8 percent decrease going down from $3.5 billion last year to $3.1 billion during the current year, according to a PBS breakup of figures.
Source: IBP