June 19, 2019 (MLN): Pakistan’s current account deficit (CAD) has narrowed considerably by 29% to $12.67 billion in the first 11 month of the current fiscal year, i.e. July-May (2019),
The improvement was clearly a result of drop in imports of the country and a noticeable rise in worker remittances by 10% during the aforesaid period.
According to the latest data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the imports of goods declined by 6% to $48.4 billion and imports of services declined by 14% to $8.8 billion during the said period. This brought the balance on trade in goods and services down by 12% to $30 billion as compared to $34.2 billion in the corresponding period of last year.
On monthly basis, CAD decreased by 12% to $1.1 billion against $1.24 billion in recorded in April 2019. The major components that contributed in the declining CAD were the increase in import of goods by 8% to $2.2 billion, and imports of services by 25% to $1.1 billion.
On quarterly basis, the CAD dropped by 55% in Jan-Mar 2019 to $2.022 billion from $4.559 billion in the previous quarter.
