Petroleum import bill rises by 15.65% YoY to $1.43bn in January: SBP

February 19, 2024 (MLN): The import bill of the petroleum group stood at $1.43 billion in January 2024, marking an increase of 15.65% MoM compared to the import bill of $1.24bn recorded in December 2023, data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed.

Similarly, the imports of petroleum products rose by 13.45% YoY compared to the bill of $1.26bn in January 2023.

The share of petroleum products in the total import bill stood at 31.7% in January 2024.

In 7MFY23, the import bill of petroleum products went significantly down by 22.45% YoY to $8.78bn against $11.33bn recorded in the same period last year.

It is pertinent to mention that the overall import bill has surged by 16.02% YoY to $4.51 bn in December.

Likewise, on a monthly basis, imports grew by 10% MoM compared to the imports worth $4.1bn recorded in December 2023.

Cumulatively in 7MFY23, total imports marked a decrease of 11.1% YoY to $29.76bn compared to imports of $33.48bn in 7MFY23.

The second and third-highest imports were by the Agri. & Other Chemical and Food Group, worth $860.93m and $695.07m, respectively in the review month.

The import of agricultural and other chemicals increased by 34.5% YoY and 29.64% MoM to clock in at $860.93m.

Meanwhile, during 7MFY23, the imports for the same group showed a rise of 0.56% YoY to clock in at $5.38bn.

With regards to the transport sector, the import bill posted a rise of 10.71% YoY to $115.06m in January 2024, against $103.92m in January 2023.

This increase is attributed to a rise in imports of road motor vehicles that stood at $78.5m compared to $53.87m in January 2023, depicting a rise of 45.71% YoY.

Comparison on a sequential basis reflects a decline of 23.19% MoM compared to transport imports of $149.79m in the previous month.

Cumulatively in 7MFY23, imports from the transport sector went up by 4.84% YoY to $892.57m compared to imports of $851.36m in 7MFY23.

The country’s food imports went down by 6.4% YoY to $695.07m in January 2024 as compared to $742.6m in January 2023.

Conversely, on a monthly basis, the food group’s import surged by 25.61% MoM compared to the import worth $553.36m in December.

Under the group, the imports of palm oil inched up 0.52% YoY during the review period.

Likewise, the import of pulses surged 44.64% YoY and 18.36% MoM to clock in at $47.49m in the review month.

The data released by the central bank further shows that the machinery import witnessed a substantial rise of 2.63x YoY to clock in at $691.71m in January against the imports of $263.14m in the SPLY.

Under the Machinery group, the major portion of import was associated with Electrical Machinery and apparatus as it stood at $237.20m, observing an increase both compared to the previous month and the SPLY.

The import bill associated with the metal group was recorded at $384.75m, witnessing a rise of 60.86% YoY and 6.48% MoM, due to a massive jump in the import of iron and steel reported at $151.7m in January.

Under the textile group, the country incurred import expenditure worth $305.97m during the review period, down by 22.28% YoY, while up by 24.07% MoM.

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