Trade deficit narrows 32% during July-January

KARACHI: Pakistan’s trade deficit has narrowed 32 per cent during the first seven months (July-January) of the fiscal year 2022/23, official statistics revealed on Thursday.

According to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the trade deficit narrowed to $19.63 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year, compared with $28.86 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

A massive fall in the import bill may be attributed to the contraction in trade deficit. The import bill of the country sharply fell 22.53 per cent to $36.1 billion during July-January 2022/23, compared with $46.6 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

The government took measures to discourage imports during the period. In May 2022, the government imposed a ban on the import of luxury and non-essential items, which was later lifted in August 2022.

However, certain conditions remained applicable regarding opening the letters of credit (LCs) for import payments.

However, the exports also fell 7.16 per cent to $16.47 billion during the period under review, compared with $17.74 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

The exports exhibited a fall of 15.42 per cent to $2.21 billion in January 2023, compared with $2.61 billion in the same month of the last fiscal year.

The import bill for January 2023 also fell 19.55 per cent to $4.86 billion, compared with $6.04 billion in the same month of the last fiscal year.

The trade deficit in January 2023 contracted 22.71 per cent to $2.64 billion, compared with $3.42 billion in January 2022.

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