Pakistan’s trade deficit surges by 21.6% in 10MFY21

Pakistan’s trade deficit witnessed a double-digit rise as it swelled by 21.6% to $23.83 billion in the ten months of 2020-21 from $19.59 billion over the corresponding period last year.

This was revealed by data from the data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) that was published on Wednesday.

According to a local media outlet report, the trade gap has been broadening since December 2020.

The increase in trade deficit is led mainly by exponential growth in imports with slow comparative growth in exports from the country.

In FY20, the country’s trade deficit had narrowed down to $23.099 billion from $31.820 billion.

Nevertheless, this target was now crossed in 10 months of FY21, indicating severe pressure on the outer side due to rising imports.

In April 2021, the trade deficit ballooned by 33.24% to $2.99 billion against $2.24 billion over the corresponding month of last year.

On a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the trade deficit dipped by 9.14%.

The import bill went up by 60.02% to $5.18 billion in April 2021 from $3.20 billion over the corresponding month of last year.

However, on an MoM basis, the import bill decreased by 8.34%.

Between July and April FY21, the import bill rose by 17.67% to $44.706 billion this year against $37.992 billion over the corresponding months of last year.

On the other hand, the exports post a growth year-on-year 129.74% to $2.19 billion in April from $0.995 billion over the last year.

Nevertheless, on an MoM basis, exports dipped by 7.23%.

It is pertinent to note that in 10MFY21, the export proceeds rose 13.49% to $20.88 billion against $18.39 billion in the corresponding period last year.

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