According to latest PBS data, total balance of trade deficit during the months of July – December 2017 $ -17.963 billion against -14.428 billion during July –December 2016. Pakistan’s cumulative trade deficit for the first half of FY ’18 jumped by 24.50%. Imports for the cumulative period increased by 19.11% reaching a total sum of $ 28.970 billion despite Government’s efforts to reduce the imported items.

The Country Total Exports during the first half of Fiscal Year 2018 registered a healthy increase of 11.24%, with an increase of 1.112 billion during the month of December. Pakistan’s Total Exports during the period between July – December FY ’18 clocked in at $ 11.007 billion.

On the other hand, month on month deficit during the month of December saw a slight increase of 0.15%, going up from 1.974 billion in November, 2017 to 1.977 billion in December, 2017. Meanwhile, on the import side, month on month trade saw a 0.24% increase as a result of 12 million increase during the month of December against the tally of November, 2017.