Pakistan’s trade deficit has shrunk by 26.59 percent to $11.469 billion during the first four months of the current fiscal year (FY23) as compared to $15.624 billion during the same period of last year, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The exports during July-October (2022-23) were recorded at $9.549 billion against the exports of $9.460 billion in July-October (2021-22), demonstrating a growth of 0.94 percent, according to the data released by PBS.

The imports decreased by 16.21 percent during the period under review, witnessed decline from $25.084 billion last year to $21.018 during the current year.

On a year-on-year basis, the exports went down by 3.77 percent and were recorded at $2.371 billion in October 2022 against the exports of $2.464 billion in October 2021.

The imports also decreased to $4.636 billion in October 2022 from $6.369 billion in October 2021, showing negative growth of 27.21 percent. The trade deficit narrowed by 42 percent on a Year-on-Year basis to $2.265 billion in October 2022 compared to $3.905 billion in October 2021.

On a month-on-month basis, the exports during October 2022 declined by 3.07 percent when compared to the exports of $2.446 billion in September 2022.

The imports also declined by 13.30 percent in October 2022 as compared to the imports of $5.347 billion in September 2022, according to the data.

Report: Ashraf Khan