| Services’ exports up by 18.17% in 8 months, 13.73% in February
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will import around 32.7 Million Barrels (MBL) of crude oil, during the year 2022, under an agreement signed with the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) to meet its needs of petroleum products on deferred payment.
“The Pak-Arab Refinery Company Limited (PARCO) and National Refinery Limited (NRL) are planning to import 16.89 and 15.81 million barrels of oil in the year 2022 respectively,” according to an official document.
As per the agreement, the crude oil worth $100 million per month for one year could be imported on deferred payment.
“The price will be as per existing long term agreements/contracts between Saudi Aramco, PARCO and NRL,” it added.
The SFD programme is operative since March 7, 2022 and accordingly, the procurement of oil has commenced.
“The facility will be available for a 12 months period which may be extended for 1 year upon the consent of the parties. Repayment of the withdrawn amounts plus the margin at the rate of 3.8% shall be made in one annual installment in US$.”
Meanwhile, a senior official privy to petroleum sector developments told media that the government had given the Exploration and Production companies, operating in Pakistan, a target to produce around 29 MBL crude oil during the current fiscal year. The companies had produced 27 MBL of oil in 2020-21, he added.
Meanwhile, the exports of services from the country witnessed an increase of 18.17 percent during the first eight months of the current financial year (2021-22) as compared to the corresponding period of last year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.
The exports of services during July-February (2021-22) were recorded at US $ 4,492.02 million against the exports of US $ 3,801.18 million during July-February (2020-21), showing growth of 18.17 percent.
The services’ imports also rose by 39.20 percent by growing from US $ 5,089.31 million last year to US $ 7,084.40 million during the period under review.
Based on the figures, the services trade deficit was recorded at US $ 2,592.38 billion this year against the deficit of US $ 1,288.13 billion during the last fiscal year, showing an increase of 101.25 percent.
On year-on-year basis, the services’ exports during the month of February 2022 grew by 13.73 percent to US $ 547.07 million against the exports of US $ 481.02 million during February 2021.
The imports also grew by 25.34 percent from US $ 663.01 million in last February to US $ 831.01 million in February 2022, according to the data.
On month-on-month basis, the exports from the country went up by 4.98 percent as compared to the exports of US $ 521.13 million in January 2022. The imports decreased by 17.40 percent as compared the imports of US $ 1006.04 million in January 2022, the data revealed
Meanwhile, the merchandize exports from the country witnessed an increase of 24.67 percent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (2021-22) as compared to the corresponding months of last year, the bureau reported.
The exports from the country were recorded at $23.298 billion during July-March (2021-22) against the exports of $18.687 billion recorded during July-March (2020-21), showing growth of 24.67 percent.
The imports during the months under review also went up by 48.63 percent by growing from $39.489 billion last year to $58.691 billion in July-March (2021-22).
Based on the data, the trade deficit during the period under review was recorded at $35.393 billion, showing an increase of 70.14 percent over the deficit of $20.802 billion recorded during July-March (2020-21), the PBS data revealed.
On year-on-year basis, the exports of the country increased by 15.91 percent during March 2022 as compared to the exports of same month of last year. The exports during March 2022 were recorded at $2.740 billion against the exports of $2.364 billion in March 2021, the data revealed.
The imports into the country increased from $5.631 billion in March 2021 to $6.186 billion in March 2022, showing growth of 9.86 percent.
