ISLAMABAD    -  The current account deficit (CAD) has significantly slid down by 71.2 percent to $1.093 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year as compared to the defi­cit of $3.796 billion during the same period of last year, State Bank of Pakistan reported Mon­day. “Current account balance (CAB) showed a deficit of $269 million in Jan 2024. Cumulative­ly, CAB improved significantly to a deficit of $1.1 billion in Jul-Jan FY24 compared to $3.8 billion in Jul-Jan FY23,” SBP posted on the social media website X (for­merly Twitter). On a year-on-year basis, the CAD witnessed a deficit of $269 million in Janu­ary 2024 compared to a defi­cit of $167 million in January 2023. According to the latest SBP figures, the merchandize trade deficit during July-Janu­ary (2023-24) was recorded at $11,783 million as compared to the deficit of $17,032 million in July-January (2022-23).

Likewise, the services’ trade deficit was recorded at $1,720 million during FY2023-24 com­pared to the deficit of $233 mil­lion during the corresponding period of last year. The overall trade deficit in goods and ser­vices was recorded at $13,503 million during the current fis­cal year compared to the deficit of $17,264 million during last year. Meanwhile, the balance on primary income stood at negative 4,402 million against $3,153 million last year, accord­ing to the SBP data.