Trade deficit declines by 30% MoM in January

February 2, 2022 (MLN): Pakistan's merchandise trade deficit for the month of January 2022 clocked in at $3.36billion compared to a deficit of $4.8bn in the previous month, depicting a decline of 30.2% YoY as imports declined by 22% MoM.

This is the second consecutive monthly decline in the deficit from its peak in November 2021 when the trade deficit stood at $5bn.

However, compared to the same month last year’s deficit of $2.6bn, the trade deficit soared by 26.5%.

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

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), exports decreased by 8% to $2.54bn compared to $2.7bn in Dec’2021. While on yearly basis, the exports exhibited a growth of 18.69% from $2.14bn in Jan'21.

In terms of Rupees, exports from Pakistan during Jan'22 amounted to Rs450bn as against Rs489.6bn in Dec 2021 and Rs343bn during Jan 2021, showing a decline of 8% over Dec 2021 and an increase of 31% over Jan'21.

On the other hand, imports in Jan’22 plummeted by 22%, clocking in at $5.9bn compared to $7.6bn in the previous month.  While compared to the corresponding month previous year, the imports showed an increase of 23% from $4.8bn reported in Jan’21.

In Rupee terms, imports into Pakistan during Jan’21 amounted to Rs1.04tn as against Rs1.34tn in Dec’21 and Rs769.2bn during Jan’21, indicating a dip of 22.2% over last month and a jump of 23% over Jan’21.

Cumulatively, during July-Jan FY22, Pakistan’s trade deficit was $28.8bn compared to a deficit of $15bn in the corresponding period of FY21.

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