ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit narrowed by 32.65 percent to $17.13 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year, as imports of non-essential and other goods fell by more than a fifth compared to last year. This import-export gap was recorded at $25.44 billion in the same period of FY22.
Imports fell 22.63 percent to $31.38 billion in the July-December period from $40.56 billion in the same period last year. Similarly, exports also declined by 5.79 percent to $14.25 billion from $15.125 billion in the same period last year, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) monthly trade bulletin said on Tuesday.
Exports fell 16.64 percent to $2.3 billion in December 2022 from $2.76 billion in the same month a year ago, while imports fell 31.9 percent to $5.16 billion from $7.58 billion in December 2021. 4.82 billion in the same month last year.
Comparing the monthly trade performance with the previous month (November), exports of goods in December 2022 decreased by 3.64% from $2.39 billion in the previous month. Similarly, imports were also down 0.4% from November’s imports of $5.18 billion.
The six-month average exports were $2.37 billion against the monthly average of $2.65 billion in the previous fiscal year, indicating that at the end of FY23, the economy was well behind last year’s total exports of $31.79 billion. can stay
However, average monthly imports during July-December of FY23 were $5.23 billion, while average monthly imports of FY22 were $6.68 billion.
It may be noted that in the last financial year (FY22), the economy accumulated a historically high trade deficit of $48.38 billion, which is 31% higher than the previous year.
The government last May banned the import of all non-essential luxury goods to stabilize the economy as the current account deficit spiraled out of control and foreign exchange reserves collapsed while the rupee fell to an all-time low. has gone U.S. dollar.
Although the country lifted the ban on the import of luxury goods in August, such items were heavily taxed to stem the outflow of dollars.
The country’s foreign reserves have dwindled to $5.82 billion, barely enough to cover a month’s worth of imports.
