Current account deficit improves by 79% MoM to $160m in August

September 14, 2023 (MLN): The current account deficit for August 2023 shrank by 79.35% MoM to stand at $160 million compared to the deficit of $775m in July 2023, the latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) revealed today.

While in the same month last year, the country recorded a current account deficit of $774m, depicting an improvement of 79.33% YoY.

Total exports increased by 13.82% MoM while falling by 8.98% YoY to $3.02bn as compared to the total exports of $2.66bn in the previous month.

Total imports inched up by 1.4% MoM to $5.08bn as compared to the imports worth $5bn recorded in July, while the imports showed a decline of 23.98% YoY when compared to the numbers of August of last year.

Meanwhile, on a cumulative basis, the current account deficit in the first two months of FY24 was recorded at $945m, showing a significant improvement of 54.95 YoY when compared to the deficit of $2.04bn in July-August FY23.

The trade deficit in goods was reduced by around 10.19% MoM and by 42.06% YoY to $1.87 billion in August 2023 as the export of goods increased by 14.25% MoM to $2.42bn, while showing a decrease of 11.41% YoY.

Similarly, the trade deficit in services was improved significantly by 31.02% MoM to $189m as compared to a deficit of 274m in July, while they showed a rise of 37.96% YoYin deficit when compared to the same month of last year, when it stood at $137m only.

Furthermore, the worker’s remittances inched up by 3.15% MoM to $2.09bn as compared to $2.03bn in the previous month; while on a yearly basis, the remittances went down by 23.72% YoY as it stood at $2.75bn in August 2023.