Trade deficit falls by 2.87% in August

September 11, 2018 (MLN): Pakistan’s Trade Deficit during August, second month of the current fiscal year, has decreased by 6.8 percent over the previous month and by 2.87 percent compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, exports during the month of August 2018 were recorded at $2.017 billion, while the country imported $4.992 billion worth of goods in that month, leading to a trade deficit of $2.975 billion.

Pakistan, during July, had exported goods worth $1.646 billion. Compared to the previous month (July 2018), exports during the month of August increased by a 22.54 percent as the country sold goods worth $2.017 billion to foreign buyers. Growth in exports during the month of August, in a turn of events, outpaced the 3.18 percent growth witnessed in imports over the month.

Likewise, compared to the corresponding period of the previous financial year 2017-18, exports of the country during August surged by 8.44 percent, higher than the 1.40 percent rise in goods imported over this time frame.

In the two months of the current fiscal year, exports have increased by 5.05 percent in dollar terms, while imports have increased by only 1.01 percent, thereby leading to a 1.25 percent decline in the trade deficit for these two months compared to the previous fiscal year, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

So far, in July and August, the cumulative trade deficit has reached $6.167 billion while during the same time frame of FY 2017-18, trade deficit had been recorded at $6.245 billion.

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