By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s merchandize trade deficit stood at $9.38 billion, shrinking 33.59 percent during the first five months of the current fiscal year 2023-24 on account of a significant reduction in imports, ARY News reported on Friday.
The country’s trade balance, gap between exports and imports, was recorded at a deficit of $9.38 billion in July to November period of the year 2023-24 as compared to $14.28 billion in the same period of the previous year, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
During the period under review, imports witnessed a massive decrease while exports saw a marginal increase, which reduced the trade deficit. The exports increased by 1.93 per cent to $12.172 billion compared to the exports of $11.942 billion during the corresponding period of last year, stated the PBS data. On the other hand, the imports narrowed by 17.32 percent and were recorded at $21.550 billion compared to $26.064 billion last year.
Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the exports from the country increased by 7.66 per cent in November compared to the exports of the same month of last year. The exports during the month were recorded at $2.572 billion as against the exports of $2.389 billion in November 2022.
On the other hand, the imports during November 2023 were recorded at $4.460 billion compared to the imports of $5.154 billion in November 2022, showing a decrease of 13.47 per cent, according to the data.
On a month-on-month basis, the exports from the country decreased by 4.39 per cent when compared to the exports of $2.690 billion during October 2023. The imports into the country went down by 8.31 per cent when compared to the imports of $4.864 billion in October 2023, PBS reported.
Meanwhile, the services’ exports during July-October (2023-24) earned foreign exchange worth $2,416 million as compared to exports of $2,338 million during the same period of last year, showing growth of 3.34 percent. The services’ imports into the country also increased by 19.57 percent by going up from $2,729 million last year to $3,263 million during the first four months of current fiscal year.
Based on the figures, the services’ trade deficit increased by 116.66 percent during the period under review by going up from $390 million last year to $847 million this year.
