December 18, 2021 (MLN): The import bill of petroleum products reached $8.4 billion during five months of the fiscal year 2022, witnessing a twofold surge as compared to $4bn in the same period of FY21, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.
The inflated import bill is attributed to the supply bottlenecks and resurgence of demand for energy products after the Covid-19 pandemic, which pushed the global markets towards a severe energy crisis. Resultantly, the price of petroleum products witnessed a sharp increase.
In November’21 alone, Pakistan has imported oil worth $2.2bn, depicting a threefold surge compared to the bill of November’20. On an MoM basis, the import bill of the same group augmented by 36%.
The data further revealed that petroleum products remained the primary culprit behind the high import bill as the group contributed around 28% to the total imports during the month.
The petroleum products have inflated the bill by 4x YoY whereas, on an MoM basis, the import bill has jumped by 75% to clock in Rs1.26bn.
In addition, the import bill of petroleum crude stood at Rs436mn in November’21, showing a twofold surge, compared to $205.4mn in November’21. Meanwhile, the same commodity saw a jump of 19% MoM compared to October’21.
The import of natural liquefied gas was recorded at $418.27mn, up by 85% YoY. On the other hand, the bill of the same commodity moved down by 12% MoM.
On the export front, the total export of petroleum group & coal clocked in at $33.27mn compared to $2.07mn in October’21 and $6.08mn in November’20.
Commodity-wise, the main exportable product was petroleum products (EXCL Top Naphta) which stood at $4.3mn, depicting a decline of 8.21% YoY and 0.24% MoM.
During 5MFY22, the export of the petroleum group saw a jump of 29% YoY to stand at $93.75mn compared to the same period last year.
