ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s trade deficit has narrowed by over 15.25 percent to $21.73 billion in the eleven months (July 2023 to May 2024) of the current fiscal year.
According to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the country’s trade deficit has narrowed by 15.25 percent during the July-May period of the current fiscal year. The trade imbalance, gap between exports and imports, was recorded at $21.73 billion as against $25.64 billion during the same period of last fiscal year. Pakistan’s exports have enhanced by 10.65 percent to $28.07 billion during July-May of the year 2023-24 as compared to $25.37 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. Meanwhile, imports declined by 2.37 percent to $49.8 billion during the first eleven months of the current fiscal year as compared with $51.01 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.
The data further showed that the country’s trade deficit narrowed by 15.43 percent on a month-on-month basis to $2.11 billion in May 2024 when compared to $2.5 billion in April 2024. The exports have recorded a 18.76 percent increase to $2.79 billion in May 2024 when compared with $2.35 billion in April 2024. On the other hand, the imports have increased by 1.16 percent to $4.9 billion in May 2024 when compared with $4.8 billion in April 2024.
The trade deficit widened by only 0.14 percent on a year-on-year basis to $2.11 billion in May 2024 compared to $2.10 million in May 2023. Imports have increased by 13.89 percent on a YoY basis and remained $4.9 billion in May 2024 compared to $4.3 billion in May 2023. Exports have enhanced by 27.08 percent on a YoY basis and remained $2.79 billion in May 2024 compared to $2.2 billion in May 2023.
The ministry of finance in its recent report had stated it is expected that exports and imports along with remittances will continue to observe their trend and current account for FY2024 will remain stable – signaling improved BoP and foreign exchange reserves.
April BoP data demonstrates that exports of goods and services increased significantly by 22.0 percent on YoY basis while, it increased marginally by 1.6 percent on MoM basis. On the other hand, imports of goods and services have also increased considerably by 21.5 percent on YoY basis while it decreased by 2.7 percent on MoM basis. Resultantly, trade deficit of goods and services widened by 20.6 percent on YoY basis whereas, it decreased by 9.0 percent on MoM basis. Other factors which favored current account surplus of $0.5bn are improved primary income balance and worker remittances.
