KARACHI: Pakistan’s current account deficit sharply widened to $5.08 billion during the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year, according to the statistics released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday.

The current account was in surplus of $1.31 billion in the same period of the last year.

The widening in the current account deficit may be attributed to significant rise in import bill during the period. The import bill increased 64 per cent to $25.1 billion during the first four months (July-October) of the current fiscal year, compared with $15.17 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.

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The exports of the country also grew 25 per cent to $9.46 billion during the first four months of the current fiscal year, compared with $7.57 billion in the corresponding months of the last fiscal year.

However, trade deficit ballooned 106 per cent to $15.64 billion during the first four months of the current fiscal year, compared with the deficit of $7.6 billion in the corresponding months of the last year.

Meanwhile, remittances grew 12 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal year over the same period last year. Workers’ remittances increased to $10.55 billion during July-October of the current fiscal year, compared with $9.23 billion during the same period of the last year.

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The current account deficit ballooned $1.66 billion in October 2021, whereas the deficit was at $1.13 million in September 2021.