Pakistan’s fiscal deficit eased to 3.6% of GDP in 9MFY23

May 30, 2023 (MLN): Pakistan’s overall fiscal deficit in 9MFY23 stood at Rs3,078.7 billion (3.6% of GDP) against Rs2,565.6bn (3.9% of GDP) in 9MFY22, showing an increase of 20.03% YoY.

The data issued by the Ministry of Finance on fiscal operations for FY23 showed that during Jul-Mar FY23, the government primary balance recorded a surplus of Rs503.8bn or 0.6% of GDP compared to a primary deficit of Rs447.2bn (0.7% of GDP) in the same period previous fiscal year.

Agriculture

Government data showed that growth in important crops witnessed a decline of 3.20%.

Individually, the production of cotton by 41% (from 8.33 to 4.91 million bales) and rice by 21.5% (from 9.32 to 7.32m tonnes).

However, positive growth has been recorded in the production of wheat by 5.4% (from 26.208 to 27.634m tonnes), sugarcane by 2.8% (from 88.65 to 91.11m tonnes), and maize by 6.9% (from 9.52 to 10.183m tonnes).

Other crops have posted a modest growth of 0.23% due to a slight increase in the production of pulses, vegetables, fodder, oil seeds, and fruits.

The provisional growth in livestock, forestry, and fishing stood at 3.78%, 3.93%, and 1.44%, respectively.

During 9MFY23, the agriculture credit disbursement increased by 25.4% to Rs1,327.8bn compared to Rs1,058.7bn last year.

During kharif 2023 (Apr), urea and DAP off-take were recorded at 408,000 tonnes (11% less than kharif 2022) and 51,000 tonnes (46.7% less than kharif 2022) over the same month last year.

Auto industry manufacturing

The performance of the auto industry also remains subdued due to massive increases in input prices, tight auto financing, and continued import restrictions.

During 9MFY23, Car production, and sale decreased by 50.5% and 53.7%, while Trucks & Buses production and sale decreased by 36.2% and 34.8%.

Amid the economic downturn, the sale of petroleum products also dropped by 24% in 9MFY23 to 13.8m tons from 18.4m tons in the same period last year. YoY, oil sales plunged 46% in April 2023 and clocked in at 1.2m tons.

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