Pakistan posts $792 million Current Account Surplus during 1QFY21

October 21, 2020 (MLN): Pakistan’s Current Account was in surplus of $73 mn during Sept, bringing surplus for 1QFY21 to $792 million compared to a deficit of $1,492 million during the same time last year.

Taking to his official Twitter account, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that Pakistan's exports grew 29% & remittances grew 9% over the previous month.

He said, 'this is great news for Pakistan. We are headed in the right direction finally.'

As per a statement by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the continued buoyancy in remittances (up by 9% MoM) and a broad-based rebound in exports (up 29% MoM) drove the current account surplus in September. Imports also picked up in line with the on-going revival in domestic economic activity.

During the month of September 2020, the current account Balance witnessed a surplus of $73 million i.e. around 65% lower than the surplus recorded in the previous month.

Going into details released by SBP, the exports of goods increased by 29% MoM to $1.951 billion in September while imports surged by 18% MoM to $3.818 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $1.867 billion. During 1QFY21, the trade deficit was recorded at $5.252 billion compared to a deficit of $ 5.048 billion from 1QFY20, showing the deficit worsened by 4% YoY.

The trade deficit in services stood at $77 million, showing an improvement of 25% MoM as a result of an increase in export services by 30% MoM though the imports also increased by 18% MoM in September 2020.

While on a cumulative basis, the trade deficit in services also improved by 51% to clock in at $539 million during 1QFY21 when compared to a deficit of $1.098 billion in 1QFY20 as imports of services plunged by 26% YoY and exports by 5% YoY in 1QFY21.

According to the figures provided by SBP, worker remittances in the first 3 months of FY21 improved substantially by 31% YoY to $7.147 billion from $5.452 billion in the corresponding period of FY20. On a sequential basis, remittances grew by 9% MoM to $2.284 billion in September 2020.

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