Trade deficit jumps by 65% in 10MFY22

April 07, 2022 (MLN): Pakistan's merchandise trade deficit ballooned by 64.79% to stand at $39.36 billion during the first ten months of the current fiscal year, mainly due to an exponential growth in imports and comparatively slow growth in exports, the latest numbers released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed.

The trade deficit was $23.83bn during July-April FY2021.

During 10MFY22, the exports increased by 25.5% to $26.2bn while imports saw a massive increase of 46% to $65.5bn.

In the month of April 2022, the country’s trade deficit clocked in at $3.74bn compared to a deficit of $3.64bn in the previous month, depicting a marginal increase of 2.7% MoM. While on year-on-year, it surged by 23.74% against $3.02bn recorded in April 2021.

According to data released by the PBS, exports increased by 3.27% MoM to $2.87bn compared to $2.78bn in March 2022. While on yearly basis, the exports exhibited a growth of 29.5% from $2.22bn in April 2021.

In terms of rupees, exports from Pakistan during April 2022 amounted to Rs532bn as against Rs499.7bn in March 2022 and Rs339.5bn during April 2021.

Similarly, imports in April 2022 witnessed a 3% MoM increase, clocking in at $6.6bn compared to $6.4bn in the previous month.  While compared to the corresponding month the previous year, the imports showed an increase of 26.2% from $5.2bn reported in April 2021.

In rupee terms, imports into Pakistan during April 2022 amounted to Rs1.22tr as against Rs1.15tr in the previous month and Rs802bn during April 2021, showing a jump of 6% over last month and an upsurge of 52% over April 2021.

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