Pakistan’s trade deficit soars to $4.1bn in Sep, up by 70% YoY

October 4, 2021 (MLN): Pakistan's merchandise trade deficit for the month of September 2021 clocked in at $4.1billion compared to a deficit of $2.4bn in the corresponding month last year, depicting a growth of 70% YoY.

The widening of the trade gap is mainly attributed to exponential growth in imports and comparatively slow growth in exports.

However, compared to the previous month’s deficit of $4.3bn, the trade deficit improved by 5.3%.

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), exports increased by 5.9% to $2.38bn compared to $2.24bn in Aug 2021. While on yearly basis, the exports exhibited a growth of 26% from $1.88bn in Sep 2020.

In terms of Rupees, exports from Pakistan during July 2021 amounted to Rs401.2bn as against Rs368.8bn (provisional) in Aug 2021 and Rs313bn during Sep 2020, showing an increase of 8.8% over Aug 2021 and 28% over Sep 2020.

Imports in Sep’21 plummeted by 1.5%, clocking in at $6.47bn compared to $6.57bn in the previous month.  While compared to the corresponding month previous year, the imports showed a significant increase of 50% from $4.29bn reported in Sep 2020.

In Rupee terms, Imports into Pakistan during Sep 2021 amounted to Rs1.1tn as against Rs1.07tn in Aug 2021 and Rs712.6bn during Sep 2020, indicating a jump of 1.2% over Aug 2021 and 53.26% over Sep 2020.

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