Oil imports hit record high at $14.81bn in 9MFY22

April 17, 2022 (MLN): The import bill of oil was recorded at $1.86 billion during March 2022, depicting an upsurge of 68.19% YoY and 48.83% MoM, touching a historic high of $14.81bn, up by 96% YoY during the July-March FY22 amid 73% YoY jump in Arab Light prices along with 14% YoY volumetric growth, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the import bill of the transport sector posted a growth of 67.50% YoY to $3.36bn during 9MFY22 against $2bn over last year, mainly led by massive imports of road motor vehicles (build unit, CKD/SKD) worth $2.82bn. In the same period last year, the country imported $1.63bn worth of road motor vehicles.

In the month of March alone, the sector imported worth $423mn vehicles, observing an increase of 34.88% YoY and 40.38% MoM in the import bill.

The import of medicinal products went down by a 66.43% MoM and 27.19% YoY to $84mn in March 2022 mainly due to a notable decline in the import of the Covid-19 vaccine.

However, during 9MFY22, the medicinal import bill rose to a huge $3.73bn, up by 4.4x YoY from $834mn a year ago.

The country’s food imports widened by 15.46% YoY to $7.06bn in 9MFY22 from $6.12bn over the corresponding period last year to bridge the gap in food production. In March 2022, the food import bill declined by 18.02% YoY while, on MoM basis, it has dropped by 20.62% MoM to $636.58mn.

It is worth mentioning that Pakistan paid over $2.73bn on the import of Palm oil during 9MFY22, showing an increase of 46.74% YoY due to rising in palm oil prices in the international market.

Moreover, Pakistan imported 2,206.880 tonnes of wheat in the 9MFY22 compared to 3,612.638 tonnes imported last year, showing a decline of 39% YoY. In value terms, the government paid $795mn for wheat import as compared to $983mn in the same period last year.

Moreover, Pakistan imported 2,206.880 tonnes of wheat in the 9MFY22 compared to 3,612.638 tonnes imported last year, showing a decline of 39% YoY. In value terms, the government paid $795mn for wheat import as compared to $983mn in the same period last year.

The import of machinery jumped by 21.75% YoY to $8.68bn in July-March FY22, compared to the period a year ago. However, in March 2021, the import bill of machinery shrank by 11.4% YoY to $929mn.

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