Import bill of POL slides 28% YoY in April: SBP

May 17, 2023 (MLN): The import bill of the petroleum group for the month of April 2023 declined by 28.69% YoY to stand at $1.28 billion, data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan showed on Wednesday.

While on a monthly basis, the import bill of the same group also moved down by 11.94% MoM, compared to $1.8bn in April 2022 and $1.45bn in March 2023, respectively,

Cumulatively, the import bill of petroleum clocked in at $15.35bn in 10MFY23, marking an increase of 6.17% compared to $14.46bn in 10MFY22.

Within the group, the import of petroleum products dropped by 10.94% MoM to stand at $717.5 million in April 2023 and by 3.45% YoY compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, petroleum crude and natural liquefied gas clocked in at $226.78m and $325.48m, respectively. This marks a fall of 40.09% MoM in petroleum crude and a 63.4% YoY fall in natural liquefied gas.

Meanwhile, the import of machinery also witnessed a decline of 5.89% MoM and a substantial decline of 59.81% YoY to $305.16m during the month under review and $3.87bn in 10MFY23.

Under the Machinery group, the major portion of import was associated with telecom machines as it stood at $64.75m in the month of April, observing a decline of 27.75% MoM while on a yearly basis, the same import of the same group fell significantly by 64.29% YoY.

Within the telecom, the imports of mobile phones shed the majority of the value, depicting a huge fall of 94.89% YoY, to only $88.95m as compared to $1.54bn in 10MFY23.

Similarly, the import bill of the agriculture and chemical group which comprises manufactured fertilizer, insecticides, plastic material, medicinal products, and other agricultural and chemical products, witnessed a decline of 27.32% MoM to clock in at $462.13m in April 2023, compared to $635.84m in March 2023, on a yearly basis, the import bill of the same group saw a decline of 34.08% YoY in 10MFY23.

On the other hand, the food group including, palm oil, tea, pulses, sugar, and wheat marked a meager increase of 2.43% MoM to $554.34m in April 2023, compared to $541m in March 2023. However, the import bill of the same group declined by 12.44% YoY in 10MFY23.

Under the same group, the imports of wheat witnessed a massive surge of 2.31x MoM and 2.86x YoY to stand at $109.67m in April and $939.57m in 10MFY23. However, the import of sugar shed 32.17% MoM in April 2023 and 97.75% YoY to clock in at $4.26m in 10MFY23.

The imports of other products such as textile and metals decreased by 14.15% MoM, and 2.39% MoM respectively. Meanwhile, the transport group’s imports inched up by 14.83% MoM in April 2023.

Copyright Mettis Link News