Pakistan’s current account deficit swells to $2.29 billion in two months

KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account deficit has widened to $2.29 billion during the first two months of the current fiscal year, according to the statistics released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday.

The balance of payments has posted a surplus of $838 million in the same months of the last fiscal year.

The widening in the current account deficit may be attributed to a significant rise in import bill during the period. The import bill increased 74 per cent to $12.168 billion during the first two months (July–August) of the current fiscal year, compared with $6.99 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

The exports of the country also grew 28 per cent to $4.58 billion during the period under review, compared with $3.58 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

However, the trade deficit ballooned 122.58 per cent to $7.58 billion during the first two months of the current fiscal year, compared with the deficit of $3.4 billion in the corresponding months of the last year.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revised the trade data in which the trade deficit has widened further.

Likewise, remittances grew 10.4 per cent during the first two months of this year over the same period last year. Workers’ remittances increased to $5.36 billion during July–August of the current fiscal year, compared with $4.86 billion in the same period of the last year.

The current account deficit ballooned $1.47 billion in August 2021, whereas the deficit was at 814 million in July 2021.