Pakistan’s trade deficit has widened by 82.26% to almost $32 billion in eight months (July to February) of the ongoing financial year mainly driven by surging imports amid higher commodity prices.
The trend of enhancement in the country’s imports could not stop as the report of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics says that the trade deficit during the first eight months of the current fiscal year was $14.4 billion.
This is about 82 percent more than the situation of trade deficit during these months in the last fiscal year. The government had set the annual trade deficit target at $28.4 billion which has gone beyond it much earlier. Under this alarming situation, the government will be bound to take more foreign loans against the estimated loans to be taken from external agencies.
During the first seven months of the ongoing financial year, $13 billion have been taken including the amount, taken through the Sukuk and Naya Pakistan Certificates. As a result, the foreign exchange of the State Bank of Pakistan has been decreasing and stands at $16.8 billion.
Read more: Trade deficit shrinks 30% to $3.36 billion in January
The report of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics says that during the period from July to February in the current fiscal year, the imports moved high by 55 percent to $52.5 billion. In absolute terms, the imports increased to $18.6 billion during this period.
The exports increased by 26 percent to $20.5 billion during the eight months of the current fiscal year as compared to $16.34 billion during this period, last year. In absolute terms, the exports increased to $4.2 billion. The government had set the target of exports for the whole year at $26.3 billion which seems to be easily achievable.
As per projection by the Ministry of Commerce, the figure for exports would touch $31 billion by the end of the current financial year. As far as the monthly record of imports is concerned, in the month of February, the imports increased by 28.3 percent to $1.3 billion as compared this month, last year. The exports too, moved high by 36 percent to $2.8 billion in February as compared to the same month, the previous year.
The trade deficit year-on-year basis widened to $3.1 billion in February, this year. On a month-on-month basis, the exports increased by 7.4 percent to $2.8 billion in February this year as compared to January, indicating a growth of $194 million.
